MANILA: International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) is not renewing the lease at the Naha port in Okinawa, Japan that is set to expire at the end of the year.
ICTSI director for treasury Arthur Tabuena said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) that the company has sold its 90,000, shares, representing 60 percent of the total outstanding capital stock of Naha International Container Terminal Inc. (NICTI) at 1,189 yen per share for a total of 105.3 million yen per share.
NICTI is 60 percent controlled by ICTSI while 40 percent is owned by six stevedoring companies operating in the Naha Port. It started operating terminals 9 and 10 of NICT in January 2006.
Naha port is located close to Shanghai and is almost at the halfway point between Busan and Kaohshiung.
The 10-year lease agreement of NICTI granted by Naha Port Authority over the terminal in Naha International Container Terminal (NICT) is scheduled to expire at the end of the year.
According to Tabuena, negotiations for its renewal would soon commence but ICTSI is no longer interested in participating in the talks. “ICTSI is no longer interested in participating in the said negotiations. Thus, a deed of sale of shares was consummated in the evening of April 27 between ICTSI and NICTI for the purchase of ICTSI’s shares into treasury,” he said.
ICTSI is an international operator of common user container terminals serving the global container shipping industry. It is involved in 29 terminal concessions and port development projects in 21 countries worldwide.
There are 24 operating terminals in eight key ports in the Philippines, two in Indonesia and one each in Brunei, Japan, China, the US, Ecuador, Brazil, Poland, Georgia, Madagascar, Croatia, Pakistan, Honduras, Mexico and Iraq; four ongoing port development projects in Colombia, Argentina, Australia and Congo; and a sub-concession agreement to develop, manage and operate a port in Nigeria.
The port operator has earmarked $530 million for its capital expenditures this year for the completion of development at the company’s new container terminals in Mexico and Democratic Republic of Congo, capacity expansion in its terminal operation in Manila, and to start the development of the new terminals in Iraq and Australia.
ICTSI is investing approximately $140 million to complete the first phase of a joint venture container terminal development project with PSA International Pte Ltd. (PSA) in Buenaventura, Colombia where it invested $64.7 million last year.
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