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Facility Development: Cartagena

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Cartagena: APM Terminals Invests in South America’s Second Busiest Container Port

APM Terminals and Colombia-based port and terminal operating operator Compañia de Puertos Asociados S.A. (Compas S.A.) have signed a joint venture agreement to manage and operate Compas S.A.’s existing multipurpose Cartagena Terminal. 

APM Terminals and Compas S.A. will invest more than US$200 million in upgrading and expanding the Cartagena Terminal, including state-of-the-art terminal equipment. The upgrade will triple the terminal’s annual throughput capacity and enable it to handle the larger vessels transiting the enlarged Panama Canal. 

While Compas S.A. will continue to be the concession holder, APM Terminals will hold a 51 percent majority share in the joint venture that will run the facility. The transaction is subject to compliance with the necessary formalities of the relevant authorities. 

"Colombia represents one of the most promising investment opportunities in the region and we are pleased to participate in the country’s ongoing economic growth and development. Cartagena has enormous significance in South America ports and this JV underlines APM Terminals growth and investment plans," said APM Terminals CEO Kim Fejfer. 

The Compas S.A. Cartagena Terminal has an annual throughput capacity of 250,000 TEUs and 1.5 million tons 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 together handled container throughput of 2.1 million TEUs in 2014. 

"APM Terminals has an impressive heritage in the port business and they continue to transform operations. We are excited to partner up with them and expand our business here in Colombia," commented Alberto Jimenez Rojas, president of Compas S.A. 

Compas S.A., headquartered in Bogotá, 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. (formed by the Colombian Echavarría Obregón family and Spain-based Ership S.A.). While Compas S.A. is a major terminal operator in Colombia, it also has terminal interests in Houston and Panama.

Cartagena, located at the northern tip of South America on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, was the second-busiest container port in South America in 2014, with throughput of 2.23 million TEUs. Total Colombian port container throughput was 3.4 million TEUs in 2014, ranking third, after Brazil and Chile.

APM Terminals has two deep-water terminals under construction in Latin America at Moin, Costa Rica, and Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico.


Aerial of Compas Terminal in the Port of Cartagena.
Photo/APM Terminals
 

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