APM Terminals invests in Colombian joint venture

APM Terminals and Compas will jointly invest over $200m in upgrading and expanding the Cartagena Terminal, including state-of-the-art terminal equipment. The upgrade will triple annual throughput capacity for the terminal to handle the larger vessels transiting the widened Panama Canal. While Compas will continue to be the concession holder, APM Terminals will hold a 51% majority share in the joint venture that will run the facility. The transaction will be subject to compliance with the necessary formalities with the relevant authorities.

“Cartagena has enormous significance in South America ports and this jv underlines APM Terminals growth and investment plans,” said APM Terminals CEO Kim Fejfer. Compas Cartagena Terminal has an annual throughput capacity of 250,000 teu and 1.5m tonnes of general cargo. It becomes the sixth operational Latin American facility within the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network, which includes interests in operating port facilities in Callao, Peru; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Santos, Pecém, and Itajaí, Brazil. APM Terminals’ Latin American interests handled an overall combined container throughput of 2.1 teu in 2014.

Compas  headquartered in Bogota, Colombia, was formed as a joint venture between Grupo Argos - a Colombian conglomerate with investments in the infrastructure, cement and energy industries -  and Southern Port Holding Inc.

While Compa is a major terminal operator in Colombia, it also has terminal interests in Houston, Texas and Panama.

Cartagena, located on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, was the second-busiest container port in South America in 2014, and the fifth-busiest in the Latin American/Caribbean Region, with a throughput of 2.23M teu The Port of Cartagena’s annual container volume growth rate was 13% in 2014. Total Colombian port container throughput was 3.35M teu in 2014, ranking third, after Brazil and Chile.