International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) is another international terminal operator to have recently been the recipient of very strong interest from the banking sector when at the end of last year it arranged a $120m stand by loan credit facility. The level of interest was such that Martin O’ Neil, chief financial officer,ICTSI,commented at the time of the signing of the loan agreement:

“This is ICTSI’s first borrowing in the international syndicated loan market and it has proved a highly successful exercise and as such a testament to ICTSI’s performance over recent years. We went to the market seeking a specific level of Standby Credit Facility and received commitments over 100% of our requirement, which, by anybody’s standards, underlines the banking sectors belief in ICTSI, its management and the market niche that the group occupies.”

The market is in effect more clearly defined for diverse banking interests – certain banks that have traditionally supplied ship finance have followed their clients into the logistics chain which includes a strong focus on port assets, DnB Nor Bank for example.

Other banking concerns have simply strengthened their market position or entered it following high profile events such as DP World’s acquisition of the P&O Group and/or as a result of the increasing widespread publicity concerning the positive performance of major groups in this sector.

Clearly, on all fronts it is boom time in terms of the volume of business for banking businesses in the international ports sector with increased competition evident,though hard work still has to be done to achieve positive rates of returns.