Speech Jan Westerhoud at the Official Opening of the Euromax Terminal, September 5, 2008

Speech Jan Westerhoud at the official opening of the Euromax Terminal, September 5, 2008

Welcome ladies and gentlemen,

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you here today on behalf of ECT and our

Partners of the CKYH Alliance – COSCO Container Lines from China, ‘K’ Line from

Japan, Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation from Taiwan and Hanjin Shipping

Lines from South Korea for the grand opening of the Euromax Terminal. It is just one year ago, at the celebration of ECT’s 40th Anniversary, that we last convened here.

Back then, we referred to this site as the future location of the Euromax Terminal. At the time, it was almost unimaginable that we would be here today for the official opening. But here we are! We are very glad that you have all joined us today to celebrate the opening of the Euromax Terminal.

First, I would like to say a special word of welcome to:

The Mayor of the City of Rotterdam, Mr. Ivo Opstelten,

Mr. Hans Smits, President and CEO of the Port of Rotterdam Authority, and

Dr. John Meredith, Group Managing Director of Hutchison Port Holdings.

Representing our Partners of the CKYH Alliance, I would also like to full-heartedly welcome:

Captain Wei Jiafu, Group President and CEO of COSCO Group

Mr. Hiroyuki Maekawa, President and CEO of ‘K’ Line

1/5 Mr. Young-Min Kim, Senior Executive Vice-President & COO of Hanjin Shipping

Lines, and

Mr. Robert Ho, President of Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation

Finally, a warm welcome of course also goes out to our special guests from China:

Mr. Zhou Jichang, Board Chairman of China Communication Construction Co,

Mr. Xiao GuiYu, Deputy Secretary-General of Shanghai Municipal People’s

Government, and

Mr. Guan Tongxian, President of ZPMC.

Ladies and gentlemen: all of you are our special guests on this momentous day: customers, partners, suppliers - representatives of all the organisations which we have in many cases already been working for and with for a great number of years.

Each year, there is an increase in the global demand for container handling. And this trend is expected to continue. Looking at the history of our company, we have seen tremendous growth. In 2007, ECT handled more than 6 million TEU. A new record for our company and confirmation of our leading market position in Europe.

The fact that we now have this substantial capacity for the handling of deep-sea containers at our disposal here in Rotterdam is therefore a great asset. These new facilities will enable ECT and the CKYH Alliance to meet the growing demand for deep-sea container handling capacity in Northwest Europe. Needless to say that it is of great importance to our customers. This location will provide our partners of the

CKYH Alliance with a strategically strong home base in the heart of Europe.

2/5 The Euromax Terminal is truly a great development which will definitely offer a substantial contribution to the future growth of both the Port of Rotterdam and the

City of Rotterdam.

Let me describe the Euromax Terminal in a few words.

The Euromax Terminal is without a doubt one of the most sophisticated container handling terminals in the world. We are by no means modest in our ambition.

Designed and built on proven technology and concepts, founded on ECT’s extensive know-how and experience with container handling operations. High-performance, flexible, safe, efficient and environmental-friendly - all key words to describe the

Euromax Terminal.

The Euromax Terminal, with its ultimate capacity of 2.3 million TEU per year, will be capable of handling ultra large vessels - 24 hours a day and without any restrictions.

It is located directly on the deep waters of the North Sea and boasts optimum accessibility for all modes of transport: deep-sea vessels, feeders, barges, trucks and trains. As regards the latter, the on-dock rail facility is directly connected to the

Betuweroute rail-infrastructure, effectively making the Euromax Terminal the starting point and terminus of this high-speed railway link to Germany and beyond.

When we started construction work on the Euromax Terminal three years ago, there was nothing here at all. And when I say nothing, I really mean nothing. It was our ambition to build a terminal right on this spot, with the biggest cranes, the most modern AGV’s and state-of-the-art terminal automation. As you can probably

3/5 imagine, it was by no means an easy task to realize such an incredibly complex project.

We wanted to meet the most stringent criteria in the field of safety and security.

To build a sustainable terminal that also pays attention to the environment.

At the same time, we wanted to create a terminal with a world class performance and a unique multi-modal network with optimum connections to the European hinterland.

Lastly, we wanted the Euromax to be ‘future-proof’. And I can safely say that we have achieved all of those ambitions. The Euromax sets a new standard in container handling, and will continue to do so for many years to come.

We have done our utmost to make the Euromax Terminal as environment-friendly as possible. These are not just words. We have extensively studied the environmental effects of the new Euromax Terminal. Ground-breaking research presented us with numerous measures that we could implement to minimise the impact on our environment. Almost everything at the terminal is completely driven by electricity, meaning we make much less use of fossil fuels. As the terminal operates fully automatically, fewer light sources are needed and the noise levels are very limited in comparison to the ‘old’ terminals. We were not just idealistic, but wanted to prove explicitly that economic development does not necessarily have to come at the expense of the environment. And, even if I say so myself, we did this quite convincingly.

With the decision to build the Euromax Terminal, ECT and our partners of the CKYH

Alliance have created something which we can all be truly proud of. We could not

4/5 have achieved this level of success without the strong level of cooperation we received from the Port of Rotterdam Authority. That made it possible to create a new facility like the Euromax.

You also need a shareholder who has the vision and the strength to invest in such a large project. Our shareholder, Hutchison Port Holdings, has the vision and the power to do that. In fact, the excellent cooperation with and dedication of all parties involved was without a doubt at the heart of this great accomplishment.

In the end, it boils down to people: employees, partners, suppliers. People who worked around the clock to get this terminal off the ground. They deserve the highest possible praise and, to be frank, fill me with great pride. From the bottom of my heart: thank you very much for making this possible.

Ladies and Gentlemen, there is only one thing left for me to do: thank you on behalf of ECT and our partners. Please enjoy the opening ceremony and thank you for your attention.

Jan Westerhoud,

Chairman of the Board of Europe Container Terminals