Port dev"t to cost $150 million

 

“About $150 million over a period of five years,” ICTSI Treasurer Rafael “Joel” J. Consing, Jr. replied when asked on capital expenditure for the port at the sidelines of the 5^th Annual Corporate Treasury CFO Summit yesterday at Fairmont Makati hotel.

“We’re going to take over sometime in the fourth quarter.”

Last February, the Razon-led port operator was awarded a 30-year contract for design, financing, construction, maintenance, and operation of the Puerto Cortes facility, which is considered a premier port in Central America.

“We will simply expand it and improve it. We have a 10-year plan, but the ones (work) that we have immediately identified are priority,” Mr. Consing explained.

“Over the long term, we’re actually quite excited with the prospects of Honduras and its neighboring countries…”

The container and general cargo terminal of Puerto Cortes will have 1,100 meters of quay for containers and 400 meters for general cargo, 14 meters of draft that can reach 15 meters, 62.2 hectares of total surface area, 12 ship-to-shore cranes and volume capacity of 1.8 million twenty-foot equivalent units, the Manila-based operator had said in an earlier statement.

Honduras’ Puerto Cortes forms part of ICTSI’s growing portfolio of international port operations.

Aside from Honduras and the Philippines, ICTSI also has operations in Argentina, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cayman Islands, China, Colombia, Croatia, Ecuador, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mexico, Pakistan, Panama, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Uruguay and Venezuela.

In the Philippines, ICTSI operates the Manila International Container Terminal; as well as Cubi Point in Subic Bay Freeport Zone, Zambales; Mindanao Container Terminal in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental; Hijo Port in Tagum City, Davao del Norte; as well as Bauan International Port in Batangas province.

ICTSI’s net income grew 23% to $87.4 million in the first half from $71.1 million the previous year, as gross revenues from port operations rose 20% to $413.7 million from $345.0 million. ICTSI’s seven key terminal operations in Manila, Brazil, China, Ecuador, Madagascar, Poland and Pakistan accounted for 85% of consolidated revenues in the first half, the company said in an Aug. 8 statement.

In the same comparative six-month periods, consolidated cash operating expenses grew 15% to $171.9 million from $149.0 million, driven mainly by higher volume-related expenses like on-call labor, fuel, power, repair and maintenance; state-mandated and contracted salary rate increases in some terminals, higher business development expenses, as well as inclusion of expenses of the new terminals in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Karachi, Pakistan.

Capital expenditures totaled $280.1 million in the first half, about 51% of the $550.0-million budget for full-year 2013. The budget is mainly for completion of terminal development projects in Mexico and Argentina, as well as construction work for expansion of the Colombia and Davao ports.

Shares of ICTSI lost P4.55 or 4.69% to close at P92.45 apiece yesterday from P97.00 each on Friday last week. Financial markets were closed on Monday and Tuesday due to floods, and on Wednesday due to a public holiday. — L. C. S. Marasigan

Port dev"t to cost $150 million