The $22.8 billion deal by Blackrock and MSC to buy Hutchison Ports international terminals underscores a shift by top container lines to vertical integration of ports into their businesses.
The two Panama Canal ports of Balboa and Cristobal may have grabbed the headlines in recent days with their likely sale by CK Hutchison to Blackrock, Global Infrastructure Partners and MSC’s Swiss-based Terminal Investment Ltd, but consolidation and vertical integration is evident among global terminal operators and liner majors across most continents.
Shipping consultancy, Drewry, has recently highlighted the success of hybrid operators, including MSC and CMA CGM, as they procure new concessions to expand the reach of their container service portfolios. Leaving aside the Panama ports deal, MSC has announced six deals since November, Drewry said in a recent webinar, including terminals in Mexico, Morocco, and Indonesia.
The Aponte family-owned company now has one of the largest and most geographically diversified box terminal portfolios, Drewry revealed, with 69 terminals and ten new developments in 47 countries, even without the Hutchison deal. If that acquisition goes ahead, it will boost MSC’s portfolio by 43 terminals in 23 countries and give the company a leading 15% global market share, with Singapore’s PSA in second place, with 10%.
Meanwhile, mainstream container ports have had to adapt to the steady increase in ships sizes. Half of the container ship orderbook is accounted for by very large container vessels of between 12,500 teu and 18,000 teu , and nearly a quarter by ultra large ships. This development will put pressure on more ports to upgrade infrastructure and handling equipment to accommodate larger vessels. Vertical integration for liner companies, therefore, makes eminently good sense.
Drewry noted that US ports lag behind other regions. The main west coast gateway port of Los Angeles and Long Beach has a maximum draft of 16.8 metres and the latest crane at APM Terminal’s Pier 400 facility there has an outreach of 23 rows. This compares with 20 metre berths under construction in Rotterdam and 26-box cranes in operation in the UK and other ports in Europe.
Meanwhile, a channel deepening project planned in Long Beach is scheduled to start in 2027, no less than 11 years after the draft environmental impact statement was first published.
Source Seatrade Maritime News
