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APM Terminals finalises $200m Cartagena jv

APM Terminals and Colombian-based port and terminal operating company, Compañia de Puertos Asociados (COMPAS) have finalised their joint venture Cartagena Container Terminal Operator (CCTO).

Michele Labrut, Americas Correspondent

January 22, 2016

2 Min Read
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The new joint venture will manage and operate Compas’ existing multi-purpose facility in Cartagena, Colombia. APM Terminals now holds a 51% majority share in the operation, which includes annual throughput capacity of 250,000 teu and 1.5 million tonnes of general cargo.

“We are proud to expand the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network into this important South American market in partnership with such a highly respected business as COMPAS, and we look forward to building upon their achievements in the port of Cartagena,” said APM Terminals ceo Kim Fejfer.

CCTO and Compas will jointly invest over $200m in upgrading and expanding the facility to triple the annual throughput capacity, and enable the terminal to handle vessels up to 13,000 teu capacity that will be able to transit the Panama Canal after the lock-widening project is completed this year.

Cartagena, located at the northern tip of South America on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, is the second-busiest container port in South America, and the fifth-busiest in the Latin American/Caribbean Region, with a throughput of over 2m teu in 2015, trailing only Balboa and Colón, Panama; Santos, Brazil and Manzanillo, Mexico.

Colombia’s economy is the third-largest in South America, after Brazil and Argentina, and has averaged over 4% annual growth rate since 2010. However due to external conditions, the IMF forecast the economy to expand by 2.9% in 2016.

CCTO becomes the sixth operational Latin American facility within the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network. APM Terminals operates ports in Callao, Peru; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Santos, Pecém, and Itajaí, Brazil.

In Mexico, APM Terminals is finishing the construction of a new 1.2m teu deepwater terminal in Lazaro Cardenas, due to open in the second half of this year, while the 1.3m teu deepwater terminal in Moin, Costa Rica, is scheduled to open in 2018.

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About the Author

Michele Labrut

Americas Correspondent

Michèle Labrut is a long-time Panama resident, a journalist and correspondent, and has continuously covered the maritime sector of Central & Latin America.

Michèle first came to Panama as a press attaché to the French Embassy and then returned to the isthmus as a foreign correspondent in the 1980s.

Author of Seatrade Maritime's annual Panama Maritime Review magazine and of several books, Michèle also wrote for Time magazine, The Miami Herald, NBC News and the Economist Intelligence Unit. She has also collaborated in making several documentaries for the BBC and European and U.S. television networks.

Michèle's profession necessitates a profound knowledge of the country, but her acumen is not from necessity alone, but a genuine passion for Panama.

In 2012 she was awarded the Order of Merit (Knight grade) by the French Government for her services to international journalism and in 2021 the upgrade to Chevalier grade.

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