ICTSI wins Sudan port contract

MANILA, Philippines — International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) was declared as the preferred bidder to operate, manage and develop the South Port Container Terminal (SPCT) in Sudan.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, ICTSI said the state-run Sea Ports Corp. of Sudan (SPC) has confirmed it as the preferred bidder to operate and manage the SPCT under a 20-year concession.

“ICTSI will resume the operational and development responsibility for SPC’s existing container terminal infrastructure and terminal handling equipment,” the company said.

The tender process was led by SPC, with Hamburg Port Consulting as international advisor, and attracted bids from a number of international port operators.

In 2017, SPCT had a throughput of 470,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU). The terminal has a capacity in excess of one million TEU.

SPCT has state-of-the-art container terminal assets. It has a land area of 180 hectares and 1200 meters quay wall, with a design water depth of up to 16 meters and thus the capability to receive global shipping lines’ largest container vessels.

It has equipment that includes eight ship-to-shore gantry cranes and an extensive range of yard handling equipment including more than 20 rubber-tired-gantry cranes.

“ICTSI said it will enter into negotiations with SPC for the purpose of concluding the concession agreement.

“ICTSI shall make a proper disclosure on the completion and/or effectivity of the concession agreement, as and when appropriate,” it added.

In the first quarter of 2018, ICTSI handled consolidated volume of 2,325,540 TEUs, a two percent rise from the same period last year.

“The increase in volume was primarily due to continuous improvement in global trade activities particularly in the emerging markets, continuing ramp-up at ICTSI Iraq, and ICTSI Democratic Republic of Congo (IDRC), and contributions from Victoria International Container Terminal and South Pacific International Container Terminal Ltd. the company’s new terminals in Melbourne, Australia and Lae, Papua New Guinea, respectively,” the company earlier said.

This was, however, tapered by the volume decline in Guayaquil, Ecuador and Karachi, Pakistan.

Revenue from port operations amounted to $325.4 million, a nine percent increase from $297.2 million in the same period a year ago.