RAZON-LED International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) has secured a 25-year extension of its concession to operate the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT), allowing the country’s largest container terminal to stay under its management until May 2063.
The corporate said in a regulatory filing on Thursday that it had signed an agreement with the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) extending the concession by 25 years from its previous expiration in May 2038.
“The renewal underscores ICTSI’s long-term commitment to further developing MICT to support the continued growth of Philippine trade and the country’s economic development,” ICTSI said.
ICTSI secured the unique concession to operate MICT through a global tender in 1988. The contract provided for an initial 25-year term, extendable by up to a different 25 years.
MICT, one among three terminals on the Port of Manila, handles about 70% of the port’s container volumes and is the Philippines’ largest and busiest container terminal, based on ICTSI.
The concession extension comes as ICTSI continues expanding the terminal’s capability and upgrading its infrastructure through the Berth 8 project.
The corporate said Berth 8 is being developed to accommodate container vessels with capacities of as much as 18,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
The expansion is anticipated so as to add 200,000 TEUs of annual capability, increasing MICT’s total handling capability to three.5 million TEUs a 12 months.
Announced in 2024, the second phase of the Berth 8 project includes the development of a 300-meter wharf and a 10-hectare container yard.
Berth 8 will even be equipped with three quay cranes able to handling vessels with capacities of as much as 18,000 TEUs. The cranes are expected to reach in 2027.
ICTSI operates 33 terminals in 20 countries across six continents.
On the local bourse on Thursday, ICTSI shares closed unchanged at P980 apiece. — Ashley Erika O. Jose