Photo credit: Cosco Shipping Ports.
COSCO SHIPPING Ports is making a foray into Thailand’s ports after agreeing to pay $110m for ownership stakes in two large terminal operators, TLT and HLT. This is considered a mega deal as Thai Laemchabang Terminal Co., Ltd. (TLT) and Hutchison Laemchabang Terminal Limited (HLT), are the largest terminal operators in the region of Laem Chabang Port.
The acquisition will cost $110m with COSCO SHIPPING Ports taking a 12.5% of the equity stake in Thai Laemchabang Terminal (TLT) and a 30% stake in Hutchison Laemchabang Terminal Limited (HLT).
The acquisition includes the berth A2 in TLT, berths A3, C1-C2 and D1-D3 in HLT, where D1-D3 is partly under construction.
The total annual capacity will be about 6.7 million TEU once fully completed and operational.
Laem Chabang Port, located to the southeast of Bangkok in Thailand and approximately 60 nautical miles from the Port of Bangkok, is the largest deep-water port in Thailand and serves as the country’s most important international container hub, accounting for approximately 80% of total throughput in Thailand.
“The acquisition will help further develop the trade and economic ties between China and Thailand. It will also help COSCO SHIPPING Ports optimize the layout of port resources and deepen the synergies between port and shipping companies,” COSCO SHIPPING Ports said in its release.
“The company believes that the acquisition is of great strategic significance and has good market growth prospects, helps improve the performance of existing global network services on a continuous basis, and enable the company to become “the leading global port logistics service provider with a customer-oriented focus,” it added.
COSCO SHIPPING Ports believes that with the Thai government support in the development of Laem Chabang Port, there will be continued development and expansion of infrastructure projects such as the Thailand Eastern Economic Corridor.
Currently, the Laem Chabang Port is the main port of call for COSCO SHIPPING Lines dual brands in Thailand.
