INTERNATIONAL Container Terminal Services, Inc’s (ICTSI) 34-year concession agreement for the development and operation of the Port of Manzanillo’s second specialized container terminal has recently been signed.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange last week, ICTSI said discussions with Mexico’s Administracion Portuaria Integral de Manzanillo, SA (Integral Port Administration) are in full swing for a takeover of no later than November 30, 2010.
Last year, ICTSI bested two other bids — Grupo Mexico and Infraestructura y Transportes Mexico and Chile’s Sudaamericana Agencias Aereas y Maritima SA — for the contract.
Under the estimated $771-million port development project covering 77 hectares, ICTSI will construct a two-million TEU terminal.
The development will be done in three phases. The first phase will involve 42 hectares with 270 meters of quay length. Construction of the first phase is expected to be completed within three years from the signing of the concession agreement.
About 46% of Mexico’s container traffic passes through Manzanillo, which is on the Pacific coast of Mexico. Its first terminal handled 1.4-million TEUs in 2007.
The port brings to three the total number of terminals operated by ICTSI in Latin American. The two others are Tecon Suape SA in Brazil and Contecon Guayaquil SA in Ecuador.
Just recently, ICTSI was awarded the contract to market and operate Terminal 6 of the Port of Portland in the US.
ICTSI is now awaiting results of a presentation it made to manage and operate Callao Port in Peru.
