APM Terminals’ Earnings Plunge in 2015
2016-02-11 20:03

APM Terminals’ Earnings Plunge in 2015

Netherlands-based container terminal operator APM Terminals, part of Maersk Group, has seen its profit drop to USD 654 million in 2015, compared to USD 900 million recorded in 2014.

The profit decline is mainly attributed to lower volumes particularly in West Africa, Russia and Brazil, only partly offset by revenue improvement and cost saving initiatives, the operator said.

“Lower oil prices in 2015 affected APM Terminals bottom line, as reduced oil revenue resulted in declines in import cargo into oil producing countries in West Africa, Russia and Brazil. The strengthening of the American dollar and divestments in 2014, also caused revenue and margins to decrease,” APM Terminals added.

Portfolio throughput weighted by equity share was 36 million TEUs for 2015, and when not including the divestment in Houston, Jacksonville, and Charleston, USA and a share in the Med-Center Terminal in Gioia Tauro, Italy, volume declined 1.1 percent from the year prior, while the overall global container market grew by 1.3 percent.

APM Terminals’ North American businesses, however, increased volume and storage income compared to 2014. Overall portfolio productivity, measured by crane lifts per hour, showed a 2 percent year-to-year increase in 2015.

“Despite weaker global container volume and economic growth, our portfolio management and financial performance, including a Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) of 10.9 percent, remained on track with our long-term strategy to expand our network’s presence and capabilities to better meet the needs of our customers,” APM Terminals CEO, Kim Fejfer, said.

In 2016, the company’s portfolio is expected to grow with the integration of the Grup TCB facilities as well as new deep-water terminals in Izmir, Turkey; Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico and Ningbo, China. Other terminals in the pipeline include Vado, Italy opening in 2017, and Moin, Costa Rica opening in 2018.

The acquisition of the 11-facility Spanish-based Grup Maritim TCB portfolio, expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2016, will add 4.3 million TEUs of capacity to the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network in Spain, Turkey, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia and Brazil, and 3.5 million TEUs in estimated annual container volumes.


Source: World Maritime News

Source: World Maritime News