Port luck for Buenaventura
Colombian port welcomes new lines and new investors. Maritime links between the Far East and Latin America have once more improved, thanks to Yang Ming, Wan Hai and PIL, amongst others. North American investors, in turn, have spotted the potential around the Panama Canal on the Pacific coast, amongst other places.
The new SA8 service, offered by Yang Ming, Wan Hai Lines and Pacific International Lines (PIL), has reached Central America on its rotation. It was launched in July this year, partially to complement the lines’ SA4 and SA6 options.
SA8 serves Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao, Busan, Manzanillo, Lazaro Cardenas, Puerto Quetzal, Buenaventura and Valparaiso before returning to Ningbo.
Thus the three shipping lines have improved their services between the Far East and the west coast of Latin America. They’ll deploy units with a capacity of approximately 4,000 teu each.
The ports in the region aren’t only attracting interest from shipping lines and shippers, however – but also from overseas investors. In July the private equity firm Carlyle Global Credit Investment, listed on the Nasdaq stock market, bought a stake in the Colombian port of Buenaventura.
Private bond goes through a trust
Through a private bond issue under New York law it acquired a 32.13% stake in the container port – using a trust managed by the Colombian Infrastructure Equity Fund (CIEF).
It wasn’t only the port enterprise – the Sociedad Portuaria Terminal de Contenedores de Buenaventura (TC Buen) – that changed hands in this latest transaction. The private equity enterprise also acquired a 50% stake in Terminal Logístico de Buenaventura (TL Buen). Carlyle has thus taken a big bite out of a juicy Colombian cherry.
APM Terminals, the operator of TC Buen, on the Pacific coast about 16 hours from the Panama Canal, has also invested heavily locally. TC Buen can handle two ships with a draught of 14 m, for example; its capacity stands at 18,000 teu. Its annual throughput currently comes to about 650,000 teu.