Razon: Mixed bag for ICTSI ports this year

Speaking in an interview for Bloomberg Television, Mr Razon said that there appears to be “slowdown across the board” in both the company and its docks.

“Overall, we’re looking at growth in the first four months [of 2019] of low single digits across the board,” he commented.

According to Mr Razon, although growth is being observed in Mexico and Africa, in some areas of Africa growth has slowed down.

Furthermore, a slowdown has hit the Middle East, while growth in Asia and the Philippines is in the low single digits. Latin American growth (with the exception of Mexico) was said to be “pretty slow as well”.

However, Mr Razon said that new ports that have come online have delivered “stronger growth than what the global trade reflects”.

Last year, the company posted growth in volume of 6%, taking its profit to a record $221.5m.

In response to a question about whether ICTSI was moving forward with plans for expansion or whether there was any reason for any pullback, Mr Razon said: “Slowdown never causes us to pull back.”

“We invest for the long-term — 30, 40 years — so whether it’s growing or not doesn’t hamper us,” Mr Razon said.