Top 10 global container port operators for 2018

London, United Kingdom (PortSEurope) December 24, 2018 - Cosco Shipping Ports (CS Ports) remains the global port operators’ leader in 2018, according to Lloyd’s List, with three more Chinese companies in the top 10 list, underlining Chinese dominance in the world of box operators. Cosco, the world’s largest terminal operator, created with the merger of the two Chinese conglomerates - Cosco Group and China Shipping Group, holds onto the top spot as recent acquisitions begin to bear fruit under its asset-building strategy. Cosco Shipping Ports is followed by Hutchison Port Holdings, PSA International, DP World, China Merchant Port Holdings, APM Terminals, Shanghai International Port Group, Yilport Holdings, International Container Terminal Services Inc and Terminal Investment Ltd. Lloyd’s List is compiled by its editorial team based on a combination of influence and scale, factoring in volume development, new terminal projects and scope for expansion over the coming year. According to the forecast for 2020 of Drewry, a British provider of consulting services to the maritime and shipping industry, Cosco will remain the largest terminal operator as measured by capacity, followed by APM Terminals, PSA International, Hutchison Port Holdings, DP World, Terminal Investment, CMA CGM… Below is Lloyd’s List editors’ summary for each of the top 10 container ports operators: CS Ports: With the financial clout and political influence provided by its Chinese state backers, CS Ports has looked to expand its global presence from the get-go. A spate of acquisitions over the past few years as part of its steadfast asset-building strategy, including the high-profile takeover of Greek transhipment hub Piraeus and Spanish port operator Noatum, are now starting to bear fruit. The drive to push volumes through CS Ports’ facilities via the group’s carrier-affiliated arm Cosco Shipping has helped liftings swell further. For 2018, CS Ports is on track to record volume growth up and above 20%. Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH): It may have lost its crown as the world’s largest box port operator to CS Ports on the Chinese group’s inception, but the Hong Kong-based company’s with its name to more than 50 terminals spanning six continents, is second on the global stage in terms of both total throughput numbers and equity share. Although expansion has slowed in recent years, allowing others to take centre stage, it has not lain still - slowly boosting capacity at key facilities. This includes , UK, home to the group’s first-ever overseas venture nearly 30 years ago, and Laem Chabang, Thailand, where a new $600m terminal is in the build pipeline. The long-term future for the port pioneer appears much brighter, according to longstanding managing director Eric Ip, as one of the key benefactors of the ‘One Belt, One Road' initiative (trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative). HPH has 34 ports in 19 countries along the route earmarked under the infrastructural initiative. PSA International: Under the leadership of Fock Siew Wah during the past 10 years the company has made its first forays into the Americas, the Middle East and the Mediterranean, while more than doubling its annual handling capacity to its latest full-year count in 2017 of more than 74m TEU. Its crown jewel and flagship operation Singapore is the world’s largest and most successful transhipment hub, and the blueprint for ports adopting the hub-and-spoke formula. PSA International was readying its berths for the age of ultra large containerships long before many of its rivals. As the industry embraces digitalisation, PSA again leads by example. During 2018, partnerships have been forged with third-party vendors in everything from 3D printing to blockchain, while a venture capital arm, unboXed, has been created to facilitate hi-tech start-ups. DP World: It has never been far away from the headlines over the past year on account of one eye-catching investment, but also a high-profile terminal dispute that is still far from being resolved. In February, DP World was ousted from its terminal concession in Djibouti after the East African state government ceased the facility, citing that it had failed to meet the obligations set under its concession. However, it was DP World’s purchase of European shortsea containership operator Unifeeder that really had the industry talking this year. Carriers buying up terminals is nothing new. Terminal operators buying shipping lines certainly is. DP World chief executive Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem has had his hands full, while of course overseeing a global portfolio that, at the time of writing, stood at 78 marine and inland terminals across six continents. In 2017, DP World handled 70 million TEU, a rise of 10.1% year on year and, through the first nine months of 2018, the growth trend continued, with throughput numbers climbing by a further 3.7%. China Merchant Port Holdings (CM Ports): It has a port portfolio spanning 36 facilities in 18 countries, using the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative as a springboard to facilitate growth. In 2017, CM Ports shifted 102.9 million TEU, a rise of 7.4% over 2016. Nearly three-quarters of the operator’s box liftings were made in China, but growth came almost exclusively from overseas. This trend has continued into 2018. Container throughput numbers through the first half of the year grew by 7.3%. CM Ports expects volume momentum to be sustained for the full-year. The focus of the company is on foreign investments as the future growth engine of the company. APM Terminals: The Danish conglomerate AP Moller Maersk’s terminal-operating arm is completing the process of integration into the Maersk group’s wider transport and logistics division. It was hit in 2017 by a cyber-attack that caused the complete shutdown of terminal systems, costing the Maersk group hundreds of millions of dollars in the process. This came amid what APM Terminals described as “challenging market conditions”, in which several facilities were heavily underutilised. The response was to divest underperforming terminals, including Zeebrugge, and use its closer ties with Maersk Line and the recently acquired Hamburg Süd to drive traffic. There are signs the strategy is beginning to pay off, with the Maersk group’s second-quarter financials revealing a significant improvement in terminal utilisation and volumes increasing 7.6% and 10.6% on an equity-weighted and consolidated basis, respectively. Yilport Holdings: The terminal-operating arm of Robert Yildirim’s shipping conglomerate, Yildirim Group, signed a letter of intent with the Mississippi State Port Authority to allow for due diligence and negotiations regarding Gulfport, which is nearing completion of $570 million worth of restoration projects. This came on the background of lack of news about the takeover of Ports America. Yilport has 21 ports under its operational guise after taking a controlling share in Guatemalan multipurpose facility Puerto Quetzal. Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG): The largest port operator in the largest port in the world, it has its sights set firmly on overseas expansion. Using the ‘One Belt, One Road’ drive as a platform, SIPG has established port partnerships so far in the Seattle, U.S.; Barcelona, Spain; Nagoya, Japan, in addition to partnering with Cosco Shipping Holdings to acquire Hong Kong operator Orient Overseas (International). Despite losing out on OOIL’s Long Beach Container Terminal, SIPG is undeterred from seeking investment opportunities abroad. The state owned port giant is open to suitable projects that may emerge from Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the Mediterranean, where it is reportedly one of several global players to bid for the much sought-after second terminal in Sines, Portugal. International Container Terminal Services (ICTS): Majority owned by the Spanish-Filipino billionaire Razon, who inherited the port operator more than 30 years ago. Soon he got his first port concession in Manila. Today, Manila is the flagship operation of ICTSI’s global empire of more than 30 terminals and 20 countries, spanning Asia, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. ICTSI’s strategy of investing in emerging markets and preference for a majority terminal shareholding in medium-sized container facilities - those with a capacity in the 1-3 million TEU size bracket - has proved a success. The latest ventures include a new terminal in Iraq and two in Papua New Guinea. Terminal Investment (TIL): Over the past decade, Mediterranean Shipping Co’s terminal-operating arm TIL has grown to become a global player, having previously served solely as landside support to its affiliate carrier, acquiring capacity and berthing space for the Geneva-based line. Copyright (C) PortSEurope. All Rights Reserved. 2018

Top 10 global container port operators for 2018

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Top 10 global container port operators for 2018

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