UPDATE 1-COSCO Pacific eyes U.S., Europe port investment

(Adds executives comments, share prices)

HONG KONG, May 15 (Reuters) - COSCO Pacific (1199.HK), the ports arm of China's largest shipping conglomerate, is exploring investment in terminals along the U.S. west coast and in Europe, a senior executive said on Thursday, to take advantage of tight capacity there.

"The company aims to diversify from being China-focused to becoming a global player," Vice Chairman Xu Minjie told reporters.

"This year, except Greece, we are still actively seeking opportunities in the U.S. west coast and Europe as they need new investments for port developments," he said.

COSCO Pacific, a unit of China COSCO Holdings (1919.HK), is currently bidding to manage container handling operations for Greece's two largest ports, in Piraeus and Thessaloniki, Xu said. But he would not disclose the investment amount in Greece.

The Greek government announced last year plans to privatise container management for Piraeus Port Authority SA and the Thessaloniki Port Authority SA.

COSCO Pacific, which is also involved in container leasing, has earmarked US$600 million this year for port investments.

But the amount does not include Greece and other possible new projects, said Kelvin Wong, deputy managing director.

The world's fifth-largest container port operator had invested in 18 ports with a total of 140 berths at the end of 2007. Its terminals are mainly in mainland China and it also has stakes in COSCO-PSA Terminal Private Ltd in Singapore, Antwerp Gateway and Suez Canal Container Terminal.

"We aim to add more than 20 new berths each year to over 200 berths by 2010," Xu said.

Ports and terminals have become COSCO Pacific's largest single profit centre, contributing 30 percent of its net profit in 2007.

The company said the U.S. subprime bond crisis did not affect its business as the value of goods imported and exported might have fallen but the volume was rising.

"People still need daily necessities and they are likely to move from high value goods to cheap stuff," Xu said.

Container throughput in COSCO Pacific's terminals rose 21.5 percent in the first four months of 2008, although the growth in April slowed to 19.6 percent.

Shares in the company have fallen 29 percent this year on fears of a slowing global economy, lagging an 8 percent loss on the blue chip Hang Seng Index .HSI. (Reporting by Alison Leung; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree)