ICTSI opening 3 new international ports next year

MANILA, Philippines - International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) of ports tycoon Enrique Razon plans to open three new ports next year which include the $545 million terminal in Colombo.

In an interview, ICTSI chief financial officer and senior vice president Rafael Consing said the two other ports that are targeted to open in 2016 are in the Democractic Republic of Congo (possibly in the third quarter) and in Iraq (in the fourth quarter).

Consing said the company is re-assessing its capital expenditures for next year with the likelihood of cutting earlier projections due the ongoing global economic slowdown.

“We are reassessing our capex. We have to determine what our 2016 capex will be. Growth-related expansion has been held in abeyance because of what’s happening in the world,” he said.

Consing said there has been some foreign exchange savings because of the stronger dollar.

ICTSI has budgeted $530 million for 2015 but a report by Bloomberg said the port operator could end up spending only half of that amount amid slowing global growth.

In a disclosure last week, ICTSI reported it spent only $136.7 million as of the first half of the year or 26 percent of the total capex.

“The underspending on capital expenditures was mainly from longer payment schedules on civil works and equipment contracts in some of our greenfield projects, foreign exchange related savings brought about by the stronger USD dollar, and a number of postponed capital expenditures on volume-related expansions given the slowing global trade outlook,” ICTSI said.

Last week, ICTSI  said its subsidiary Sociedad Puerto Industrial de Aguadulce S.A. (SPIA) entered the final stage of preparation for the operational launch of the Aguadulce Multi-User Container Terminal (AMCT) at the Port of Buenaventura, Colombia.

Consing said ICTSI is set to open the Colombia terminal by the first half of the year.The first phase of the development includes a 600-meter berth length, an 11-hectare container yard and a 21-kilometer access road leading to the terminal.