Port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. said Tuesday net income softened 12 percent in the first half from a year earlier, on lower port revenues and higher expenses related to its new terminal in Argentina.
The company led by businessman Enrique Razon said net income amounted to $92.6 million in January to June, lower than $105.7 million in the same period last year.
ICTSI said the drop in net income was due to unfavorable volume mix, lower non-containerized and storage revenues, lower capitalized borrowing costs and higher depreciation and amortization expenses related to Tecplata S.A., the company’s new terminal in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
It said excluding the effect of Tecplata and new projects, consolidated net income would have increased 6 percent year-on-year.
Gross revenues from port operations reached $550.8 million in the first half, compared to $552.1 million reported in the same period last year.
“The 0.2-percent decrease in revenues was mainly due to unfavorable container volume mix, lower non- containerized and storage revenues, and unfavorable translation impact of the depreciation of local currencies to the US dollar at certain terminals,” ICTSI said.
The decline was partly offset by tariff rate adjustments and new contracts with shipping lines and services at certain terminals and the continuing ramp-up at ICTSI Iraq.
ICTSI handled consolidated volume of 4,264,633 twenty-foot equivalent units in the first six months, up 10 percent from 3,888,130 TEUs handled in the same period in 2015.
The port operator said the increase in volume was mainly due to the continuing ramp-up at ICTSI Iraq; new shipping line customers and services in its terminals in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Manzanillo, Mexico, Karachi, Pakistan and Jakarta, Indonesia; and improvement in trade activities at most of the terminals in the Asia region.
ICTSI’s capital expenditures in the first half amounted to $157.8 million, representing 38 percent of the $420 million capital expenditure budget for the whole year. The budget is mainly allocated for the completion of the initial stage of its new container terminals in Australia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq, and the continuing development of projects in Honduras and Mexico.