MSC to Develop New Danish Terminal in Aarhus Challenging Maersk

MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company through its Terminal Investment Ltd. (TiL) group will develop a new container terminal in Denmark’s largest commercial port, Aarhus. It is seen as a challenge to Maersk on its home turf as well as in a port that the company has dominated through its terminal company APM.

Aarhus Havn (the port authority) has signed a land lease with TiL for 170,000 square meters (42 acres) at the new Omniterminal planned for the Port of Aarhus. This comes just weeks after MSC published its new 2025 routes and included a mainliner route between Aarhus and Asia in its new independent service after the end of the 2M alliance with Maersk.

Maersk had been challenging MSC efforts to reach an agreement with the port, including taking the port authority to court during the summer. They contended according to the Danish newspaper Finans that they had an agreement with Aarhus Havn since 2020 for the expansion and management of the port’s terminals. The newspaper said that AMP had promised an investment of approximately $300 million but said it would be withdrawn from those plans if a second operator was brought into the port.

Aarhus has said that it plans to use open space within the port to develop a new terminal as part of its expansion plans. It is currently the largest commercial port in Denmark and for 2023 it reported handling 73 percent of the total Danish container market, a volume of 673,781 TEU. Despite a decline in volume due to global circumstances in 2023, the port highlighted improved financial results. Over the past decade, Aarhus says total cargo volume increased by a quarter to over 10 million tons in 2023.

With the addition of the Omniterminal and MSC, Aarhus Havn highlights it will be the location for Denmark’s two largest container terminals. The new facility will be developed in two stages with the port saying it is expected to be completed by 2027.

MSC is working to develop its standalone approach to the market while also dramatically increasing container carry capacity. The company is increasing onshore investments including in ports and terminals. MSC also recently won approval from the German government for its plan to buy nearly half of the container terminal operator in the Port of Hamburg. At the same time, its container ship capacity has increased to over 6 million TEU with more ships on order.