APMT sells off US terminal

The terminal which will be renamed “Virginia International Gateway” has been purchased by a partnership comprising affiliates of investment funds managed by global investment firms Alinda Capital Partners (Alinda) and Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited (USS).

Erik Eisenberg, vice president, communication and branding, APMT, told Port Strategy: “We had a role in Virginia that was unusual for us, we were the landlord while the port authority took on the role of operator in 2010 under a lease to us. But this led to us having a passive role in operations at the terminal which does not suit our needs long-term.”

“We believe we add value to a facility when we are doing the operations because we have the knowledge on how to improve the business in the long-term.”

The terminal was leased to the Virginia Port Authority (VPA) by APMT after it started to lose volumes during the financial crisis. Mr Eisenberg told PS that APMT had tried to come to an arrangement to take back the operations at the terminal and all other public owned facilities at the Port of Portsmouth in 2012, but this has ultimately been refused by the authorities.

“We have a number of terminals in North America and the sale of the terminal will allow us to focus on those where we can control the operations. The sale was the next logical move for us,” Mr Eisenberg explained.

Under the terms of the sale, the partnership will purchase all of the issued and outstanding capital stock of APM Terminals Virginia, Inc., which owns the Portsmouth facility. APMT said that neither the customers calling at the facility, nor staff, will be affected by the sale.

The transaction is subject to standard regulatory approvals and is expected to close during the third quarter of 2014.