ICTSI signs deal on Ecuador terminals

ICTSI will pay the APG a premium of US$30m over the next four years, with the first US$6m being paid when the concession was signed on May 31, 2007. There is also a fixed fee per year (payable by trimester) over the 20-year term. ICTSI was declared the winner of the bid to manage the port in March this year. With its international subsidiary, ICTSI Ltd., it established Contecon Guayaquil SA as a special-purpose company for this project.

ICTSI is set to invest US$80m for equipment and infrastructure in the first year of the concession, and a total of US$170m over the first three years. APG has until September 13, 2007 to turn over the terminals to ICTSI, but CGSA is expected to take charge and to start operations as early as July 1. The terminals handle containerised cargo and general and bulk cargo. In 2006 the Port of Guayaquil, located on the west coast of South America and Ecuador’s main port, handled 600,000 teu.

Guayaquil is the latest addition to ICTSI’s growing international portfolio. Earlier this year, it took over operation of the Yantai Gangtong Terminal in China. It operates the Manila International Container Terminal in the Philippines and terminals in Brazil, Poland, Madagascar, Japan and Indonesia. It is also set to start operations at the Tartous Container Terminal in Syria.