ICTSI Posts Lower Profit Despite Surge in Revenue

Manila-based port operator International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) improved its throughput and revenue in the first half of 2015, but its net profit was down 1% due to one-off gains and charges from its operations in Asia and South America.

ICTSI’s net profit for 1HFY2015 was USD 100.4 million, as compared to USD 101.7 million net profit in 1HFY2014.

The port operator recorded USD 552.1 million gross revenue in 1HFY2015, an increase of eight percent over the USD 510.3 million reported for the same period last year.

ICTSI handled consolidated volume of 3,888,130 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in the first six months of 2015, nine percent more than the 3,566,023 TEUs handled in the same period in 2014.

The increase in volume was mainly due to the continuing volume ramp-up at Contecon Manzanillo S.A. (CMSA) in Manzanillo, Mexico and Operadora Portuaria Centroamericana, S.A. de C.V. (OPC) in Puerto Cortez, Honduras; new shipping line contracts and services at Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) in Karachi, Pakistan; increased demand for services at Subic Bay International Terminal Corp. (SBITC) in Subic Bay, Philippines; favorable impact of consolidation at Yantai International Container Terminal (YICT) in Yantai China; and the contribution of the company’s new terminal, ICTSI Iraq, in Basra, Iraq which began commercial operation in November 2014.

This, however, was partially offset by lower storage and break-bulk revenues combined with the 29 percent depreciation of the Brazilian Reais (BRL) against the US dollar at Tecon Suape S.A (TSSA) in Recife, Brazil; the discontinued vessel calls by two major shipping lines as a result of continuing labor disruption at ICTSI Oregon, Inc. in Portland, Oregon, USA; weaker short-sea trade and reduced vessel calls at Baltic Container Terminal (BCT) in Gdynia, Poland; and slow economic activity coupled with the 23 percent depreciation of the Euro against the US dollar at Madagascar International Container Terminal Services, Ltd. (MICTSL) in Toamasina, Madagascar.

The company’s eight key terminal operations in Manila, Brazil, Poland, Madagascar, China, Ecuador, Pakistan and Honduras, which accounted for 77 percent of the group’s consolidated volume in the first half of 2015, grew six percent compared to the same period last year.