A WHOLLY OWNED subsidiary of International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) is poised to take over the operations and management of Terminal de Conteineres 1 (T1Rio) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange Thursday, the Razon-led port operator said its subsidiary ICTSI Americas B.V. won the bid to acquire 100% of the shares of Libra Terminal Rio S.A. (Libra Rio) from Boreal Empreendimentos e Participacoes SA.

“The parties will work to sign a share purchase agreement in due course,” ICTSI said.

Libra Rio holds the concession rights for the operations, management and development of the T1Rio until 2048. The concession started in 1998, and was extended in 2011.

“ICTSI will assume the operational, development and other responsibilities under the current concession contract. The transfer of the facilities to ICTSI management is expected to take place after all conditions precedent and required regulatory approvals have been obtained,” the company said.

T1Rio recorded a throughput of approximately 135,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) last year, out of its capacity of 530,000 TEUs. The terminal has a total land area of 18.8 hectares, quay wall of 715 meters and a design water depth of 16 meters, making it capable of receiving large container vessels.

The facility is also equipped with five ship-to-shore gantry cranes and more than 16 rubber-tired gantry cranes.

This will be ICTSI’s second in Brazil, where it also operates the Suape Container Terminal.

The company also operates terminals in Port of Guayaquil in Ecuador, Port of La Plata in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Port of Manzanillo and Port of Tuxpan in Mexico; Port of Buenaventura in Colombia; and Puerto Cortes in Honduras.

Volume from the Americas segment, which is composed of the terminals in Brazil, Ecuador, Honduras and Mexico, rose 7% to 745,615 TEUs for the first quarter of 2019, on new shipping lines and higher trade volumes. ICTSI said the Americas operations accounted for 30.1% of its consolidated volume for the January to June period.

In the first quarter, ICTSI posted an attributable net income of $72.4 million, up 77% on the back of a strong operating income and lower financing charges.

The company is setting aside $380 million for capital expenditures this year, which will be allocated to the acquisition of new equipment, maintenance works and expansion in Manila, Mexico and Iraq. — Denise A. Valdez

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