On Jul, 23rd, 2007(Icelandic Time) in Icelandic President residence , CEO of Eimskip Baldur Gudnason and President of Qingdao Port Mr. Chang Dechuan signed the Agreeement of the Largest Cold Store in th witeness of Icelandic President—Mr. Orlafar Ragnar Grimsson and Secretary of CPC Qingdao Committee Mr. Yan Qijun. The cooperation will be lease first, purchase following—the newly-built cold store in the new port area with total capacity of 55,000 tons.

The signing ceremony has attracted attentions from both Icelandic and Chinese governement. Mr. President Orlafar Ragnar Grimsson and Mr. Secretary Yan Qijun both address in the ceremony.

Established in 1914, Eimskip is the largest logistics operator in the world and also the first Icelandic shipping company. It has more than 118 operational bases, 36 vessels and 20 reefer vessels, more than 100 cold stores with capacity excessing 1 million tons, providing various logistics service for chilled and frozen cargoes.

The handling capacity of Qingdao port in 2006 has exceed 7.7 million TEUs, the seond largest hub in Northeastern Asia.Among this, the reefer container has exceed 390,000 TEUs.

AS the Asian seafood market is growing very fast, Eimskip was seeking for market share in Asia. Meanwhile, Qingdao Port sets aim of increasing competition with South Korea and building Qingdao Port into the largest reefer logistics and distribution center in Asia. Therefore, the negotiation between Eimskip and Qingdao Port started under such situation.One thinks the other as the most suitable partner after about a dozen rounds of negotiation. On Nov, 1st, both parties signed the letter of Intent. On 11th, Jan, both paties signed the memorandum on the main principles of cooperation. In the beginning of Feb, two parties made final agreement on the cooperation and got approval from Municipal government in April.

The high-profile ceremony stands for the strategic partnership between Eimskip and Qingdao Port has been established. Both will fully play their role and bring the win-win development to each of them and Qingdao Economy as a whole.

The cooling has been started. The official openning ceremony will be in Oct.