THE Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and port operator International Container Terminal Services, Inc (ICTSI) finally signed the contract to operate Subic’s New Container Terminal 2 (NCT-2), north of Manila.
The deal was signed last Wednesday, almost four months after SBMA announced ICTSI won the bidding on April 6. The signing was caught between the exit of the old Arroyo administration and the entry of the new Aquino government.
NCT-2 was bidded out twice but both occasions were declared a failure. On the third try, only ICTSI qualified.
Prior to the signing of the contract, ICTSI formed ICTSI Subic, Inc to run NCT-2. ICTSI Subic has an authorized capital of P400 million, P100 million of which is subscribed and paid-up.
Based on the 25-year management and operations contract, ICTSI will handle at least 100,000 twenty-equivalent units (TEUs) annually for NCT-2.
NCT 2 is adjacent to NCT 1, which is also operated by ICTSI subsidiary Subic Bay International Terminal Corp.
NCT-2 cost SBMA $80 million to build. Its operations are expected to boost Subic Bay’s breakbulk business which has been swelling about 40% annually since three years ago.
NCT-2 has a capacity of 300,000 TEUs expandable to 600,000 TEUs. Potential annual revenues run to about $6 million, including wharfage fees.
The port’s annual lease over the length of the contract is enough to pay for the $60 million forked out by Japan Bank for International Cooperation to partly fund the terminal.
In another development, ICTSI recently sold treasury shares accumulated during the 2009 financial crisis to raise fresh capital to fund local and overseas expansion.
The P1.7-billion transaction involved the sale of about 31.24 million common shares held by subsidiary ICTSI Warehousing Inc to an institutional investor for P55.45 each.
“The proceeds of the sale will be used by the ICTSI group to fund its ongoing capital expenditure program and for general corporate purposes,” the company told the Philippine Stock Exchange. “We are just monetizing our treasury shares,” said ICTSI treasurer Rafael Consing.
