Manila-headquartered container terminal operator International Container Terminal Services, Inc. ( ICTSI ) managed to improve its revenue from port operations in the first nine months of 2015 by 2% compared to the same period a year earlier, despite an 11% revenue dip in the third quarter ended September 30.
ICTSI recorded USD 792 million in revenue in the first three quarters of 2015, compared to USD 779.2 million reported for the first nine months of 2014.
Net income attributable to equity holders for the first nine months of 2015 was USD 136.2 million, up 0.3% over the USD 135.7 million earned in the same period last year. For the quarter ending September 30, 2015, USD 35.8 million net income attributable to equity holders was up 5% from USD 34.1 million recorded in 3Q2014.
The double digit dip in revenue in the third quarter, from USD 268.9 million in 3Q2014 to USD 239.9 million in 3Q2015, was attributed to currency fluctuations, unfavorable volume mix, lower storage and break-bulk revenues, discontinued vessel calls by two major shipping lines at ICTSI Oregon, Inc. in Portland, USA, slower global economic activity, and weaker short-sea trade and reduced vessel calls at Baltic Container Terminal (BCT) in Gdynia, Poland.
However, ICTSI says that the revenue decline in the third quarter was partly offset by increased volumes in Mexico and Honduras, higher revenue from ancillary services at Subic Bay International Terminal Corp., new shipping line contracts and services at Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) in Karachi, favorable impact of consolidation at Yantai International Container Terminal (YICT) in Yantai, China, and the revenue contribution of the company’s new terminal in Basra, Iraq, which began operating in November 2014.
ICTSI handled consolidated volume of 5,768,248 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in the first nine months of 2015, 7% more than the 5,410,224 TEUs handled in the same period in 2014.
Excluding the volume generated by the new terminal in Iraq, the organic volume growth was at five percent.
The company’s eight key terminal operations in Manila, Brazil, Poland, Madagascar, China, Ecuador, Pakistan and Honduras, which accounted for 77% of the group’s consolidated volume in the first nine months of 2015, grew 5% compared to the same period last year. For the quarter ending September 30, 2015, total consolidated throughput was 2% higher at 1,880,118 TEUs compared to 1,844,200 TEUs in 2014.