APM Terminals and Colombian-based port and terminal operating company, Compañia de Puertos Asociados S.A. (Compas S.A.) have announced the finalisation of the incorporation of Cartagena Container Terminal Operator (CCTO), a new joint venture which is planned will manage and operate Compas S.A.’s existing facility in Cartagena, Colombia. APM Terminals is expected to hold a 51% majority share in the operation, which includes annual throughput capacities of 250,000 TEUs and 1.5 million tons of general cargo.
APM Terminals CEO Kim Fejfer said of the announcement, “We are proud to expand the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network into this important South American market in partnership with such a highly respected business as Compas SA, and we look forward to building upon their achievements in the port of Cartagena”.
According to the announcement, CCTO and Compas S.A. are expected jointly invest over US$200m in upgrading and expanding the facility with plans to triple the annual throughput capacity, and enable the terminal to handle vessels up to 13,000 TEU capacity which are expected to be able to transit the Panama Canal after the lock-widening project which is expected to be completed this year.
According to the announcement, Cartagena, located at the northern tip of South America on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, is the second-busiest container port in South America, and the fifth-busiest in the Latin American/Caribbean Region, with a throughput of over 2m TEUs in 2015.
CCTO is the sixth operational Latin American facility within the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network, which includes ports in Callao, Peru; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Santos, Pecém, and Itajaí, Brazil. APM Terminals is currently building a new 1.2 million TEU deep-water terminal in Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico which is due to open later this year as well as a new, 1.3m TEU deep water terminal in Moin, Costa Rica, due to open in 2018.
