(Oct 10): A South African court dismissed a case brought by AP Moller-Maersk A/S against a port-expansion deal awarded to a firm headed by Filipino billionaire Enrique Razon, paving the way to expand the continent’s top container hub.
The High Court on Friday dismissed the move after finding that Razon’s International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) was transparent in calculating its solvency ratio, a metric that South African state-owned ports operator Transnet SOC Ltd used to judge whether bidders could afford to run and expand the main terminal in the southeastern city of Durban.
“This clarifies that the awarding of the tender to ICTSI to run the Durban Container Terminal Pier 2 was fair and transparent,” the company said in a statement.
Transnet in 2023 awarded ICTSI the right to buy almost half of the facility and operate it for 25 years with Maersk’s APM Terminals unit a runner-up in the process. Razon’s firm will spend about 11 billion rand (US$638 million or RM2.69 billion) on its plans.
Maersk’s legal challenge — lodged in April 2024 — had argued that ICTSI failed to meet solvency measures outlined in the tender process. That delayed the biggest attempt yet to bring in private expertise to revive state-owned ports, which rank among the least efficient globally, according to the World Bank.
“We recognize the importance of operational improvements and infrastructure development in Durban proceeding without further delay and will therefore take the wider interests of the development of South African port infrastructure into account in determining any possible next steps,” APM said in a statement, adding that it’s assessing the court decision.
Durban Container Terminal’s Pier 2 handles 72% of the port’s total throughput and 46% of South Africa’s container volumes.
“We can now focus all our energy on executing our plan to modernise and expand DCT Pier 2,” Transnet chief executive officer Michelle Phillips said in a statement. The court decision “paves the way for us to move expeditiously to finalise the implementation of this transaction without undue delay”.
Transnet shortlisted Maersk along with companies including Cosco Shipping Ports Ltd, DP World Ltd, China Harbour Engineering Co and Guangzhou Port Co.
By : Paul Burkhardt
