APM Terminals is selling its state-of-the-art container terminal located in Portsmouth, Virginia, US, because it doesn’t want to remain a non-operating lessor of the facility to the Commonwealth of Virginia for the next 16 years.
The terminal which will be renamed “Virginia International Gateway” has been purchased by a partnership comprising affiliates of investment funds managed by global investment firms Alinda Capital Partners (Alinda) and Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited (USS).
Erik Eisenberg, vice president, communication and branding, APMT, told Port Strategy: “We had a role in Virginia that was unusual for us, we were the landlord while the port authority took on the role of operator in 2010 under a lease to us. But this led to us having a passive role in operations at the terminal which does not suit our needs long-term.”
“We believe we add value to a facility when we are doing the operations because we have the knowledge on how to improve the business in the long-term.”
The terminal was leased to the Virginia Port Authority (VPA) by APMT after it started to lose volumes during the financial crisis. Mr Eisenberg told PS that APMT had tried to come to an arrangement to take back the operations at the terminal and all other public owned facilities at the Port of Portsmouth in 2012, but this has ultimately been refused by the authorities.
“We have a number of terminals in North America and the sale of the terminal will allow us to focus on those where we can control the operations. The sale was the next logical move for us,” Mr Eisenberg explained.
Under the terms of the sale, the partnership will purchase all of the issued and outstanding capital stock of APM Terminals Virginia, Inc., which owns the Portsmouth facility. APMT said that neither the customers calling at the facility, nor staff, will be affected by the sale.
The transaction is subject to standard regulatory approvals and is expected to close during the third quarter of 2014.
TPO Le Havre
Perrigault SA., the Le Havre-based port and logistics operator and APM Terminals have completed the sale of APM Terminals’ 50% share in Terminal Porte Océane (TPO) and Société d’Exploitation du Terminal Porte Océane to Perrigault SA.
Both companies operated a 50-50 joint venture in Le Havre. TPO signed the concession agreement with Port Autonome du Havre (currently Grand Port Maritime du Havre) back in May 16, 2006.
Perrigault SA CEO Jean Bekaert said: “Our decision to expand our share demonstrates our strategic commitment to serving the French market with the finest port and logistics services in Le Havre.”
With the fourth-largest economy in Europe, and the 9th-largest in the world, France was the world’s 5th-largest exporter and 6th-largest importer in 2013, with combined trade of USD 1.21 trillion.
The Port of Le Havre, which dates to 1517, is the largest container port in France and an important center of containerized trade for the European Union.
The IMF has projected the French economy to expand by 1% in 2014, and by 1.5% in 2015.
Le Havre handles approximately 60% of all French container volume, and is the 6th-busiest container port in the Northern European port range, handling approximately 2.5 million TEUs in 2013.
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