MSC withdraws Montevideo terminal project

A committee set up by the Administración Nacional de Puertos, or National Ports Administration (ANP), to analyse the project is now having to decide whether the representative of MSC that wants to discontinue is legally the same person that submitted it in the first place, and whether they have the power to withdraw the original request.

The formal submission was made to the ANP on January 17 this year, for what would be a multipurpose container terminal. A technical commission composed of officials from the commercial, legal and operational areas of ANP was then set up to prepare a feasibility study within 90 days, allowing them to say in mid-May whether the project made financial sense or not.

The original move was seen by some as a means for MSC to put pressure on Katoen Natie to sell its existing container terminal at a discount, since the Belgian operator had earlier announced it wished to withdraw from the Port of Montevideo.