ICTSI eyes 2 more ports in Asia, LatAm

By VG Cabuag

Reporter

THE Philippines’ premier port operator is planning to acquire at least two strategically located facilities, one in South America and another in Asia, for the expansion of its foreign business, the source of two-thirds of its income.  According to an executive of the International Container Terminal Services Inc., the publicly traded company has formed a team to examine opportunities in a South American country it did not name and in China. “We are bidding for several overseas ports this year but our attention is really concentrated in South America and China.” After the port operator sold its stake in an Argentinian port to Hutchison Whampoa in 2001, the executive said the company is again looking in the region since a 5-year noncompetition clause with Hutchison has already lapsed. The source added that owing to a healthy balance sheet, they have been attracting unsolicited offers from various parties to manage their ports. At the recent Philippine Ports and Shipping conference held in Manila, Brian O’ Gallagher, executive director of the Australian department of the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory Government, said International Container is also welcome to bid for their terminal operations. Besides running a terminal in Tecon Suape in Brazil, the company also manages the Baltic Container Terminal in Poland, the Naha port in Japan, and the Port of Madagascar in Toamasina, all acquired in 2005.  Last year, the company bought 95 percent of PT Makassar Terminal Services in Indonesia and also took over cargo-handling operations in Tartous port in Syria. Early this year, it was awarded a contract to operate the Yantai Gangtong Port in Shangdong, China. Although it previously ran ports in Mexico, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Thailand up until 2001, the company was forced to sell all these assets as a result of the 1997 Asian financial crisis.  Company shares closed Tuesday at P29 apiece, up from the previous P28, the highest price posted in a year. Early this year, when the company announced it would buy its own shares held by its two other units, its stock prices jumped by P2 a week later to P26 apiece. (With Louise Francisco)

 

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