The results, presented today by Port President Sixte Cambra and CEO José Alberto Carbonell, show how exports are leading the recovery in all cargo sectors and are now 63% above the pre-crisis peak levels reached in 2008. According to President Cambra, this trend highlights “the efforts being made by companies around us to position themselves on foreign markets and look for business prospects in new countries, while increasing the openness of our economy.”

Container traffic, a strategic line of business for the Port of Barcelona, increased 7% between January and July and stood at 886,040 TEUs (one TEU equals one 20-ft container). Import containers registered a significant improvement, growing by 11% to reach 214,110 TEUs. Export containers are more significant in absolute terms, however, standing at 279,477 TEUs. This result represents an increase of 1%.

China continues to be our reference market, with close to 115,000 TEUs in trade with the Port of Barcelona; in fact, 21% of foreign trade containers in the Port start or end there. The emerging economies are among the Port’s main trading partners, and are experiencing very dynamic exchanges with Barcelona. The main increases are to be found with countries like China, Mexico and South Korea. Despite more modest volumes of trade, other countries have increased their flows with the Port: Colombia (+44%), Thailand (+23%) and Bangladesh (+50%).

Leader in vehicle traffic in the Mediterranean

The Port handled 386,869 vehicles (+6%) during the first half of the year. Again, foreign trade contributed significantly to this growth, with car exports increasing by 15% and imports by 8%. Vehicle exports were also significant, with nearly 230,000 units transported to various destinations, 25% higher than the record traffic levels of 2008.

Liquid bulk was the freight segment that grew the most during the period, with 6.1 million tonnes handled and an increase of 18 percentage points over the first half of last year. Significant growth was observed in diesel fuel (+64%), biofuels (+93%) and chemicals (+74%). These results are consolidating the Port of Barcelona’s role as a great logistics hub for the distribution of petroleum products.

As regards solid bulk, figures up to June show that the Port’s specialised terminals handled a total of 2.3 million tonnes, up 4% year on year. Two types of products performed particularly well: soya beans (+8%) and cement and clinker (+26%).

Promotion of the motorways of the sea

Goods traffic on the motorways of the sea (Short Sea Shipping) increased 13% over the same period in 2013 and exceeded 58,000 Intermodal Transport Units, or ITUs (one ITU is equivalent to one lorry, trailer or platform). These results were achieved thanks to the recovery in traffic with Italy, which had also been affected by the crisis in recent years. Furthermore, the loyalty of an operator such as Grimaldi (which last year set up its own terminal at the Port of Barcelona) is giving results in terms of boosting traffic. It is also important to remember that this figure translates to over 58,000 lorries effectively shifted from the roads to the maritime mode, which is more economically and environmentally more effective and sustainable.

The Port registered over 1.3 million passengers on ferries and cruises, representing a drop of 5% over the same period in 2013. Ferry passenger numbers increased 7% to 426,251, due mainly to the increase in passengers between Barcelona and Italy. The number of passengers arriving at the Port of Barcelona fell to 946,331, a decrease of 9%, driven by the overall reduction of supply in the Mediterranean. However, as CEO José Alberto Carbonell explained, future prospects are positive and the number of cruise passengers is expected to increase again between 2015 and 2016.

Financial results for the first half-year

The Port of Barcelona’s net turnover during the first half of the year fell to 74.2 million EUR, marking a 6% reduction. During this period, the Port registered a profit of 18.6 million EUR, 28% less than in the first 6 months of 2013. The Port’s cash flow totalled 40.5 million EUR (-8%).

Although total traffic grew by 7%, the drop in these economic indicators responds to reductions applied to port fees (-5%) and concession fees (-8%). The fall in income and benefits was also influenced by the policy of applying discounted fees, approved by the Port to boost traffic and contribute to the competitiveness of its operators and customers. This year the Port is planning to implement public investments amounting to 60.7 million EUR.

The $2.8 million Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS®) offers data from 18 statio ns comprised of 46 sensors located along 67 miles of the St. Johns River in Northeast Florida.

As the second largest PORTS® installation in the nation, the system provides instant tidal and weather information to commercial, military and recreational users, and compiles invaluable research data for use by academic institutions, environmental scientists and agencies such as the National Weather Service.

“Our nation’s ports are critical cogs in our country’s economic engine,” said Kathryn D. Sullivan, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “NOAA’s PORTS system gives shipping companies, captains, fishermen and others vital environmental intelligence that helps them navigate these waters more safely and efficiently. This is a win-win for the port, our partners, the surrounding communities and every business and industry that depends upon this flow of goods.”

Knowledge of the currents, water levels, winds and density of the water can enable shippers to optimize cargo loads so that vessel captains and pilots are using every inch of available channel depth safely, maximizing profits and efficiency.

“The real-time information provided by PORTS is invaluable to balancing JAXPORT’s dual priorities of enabling safe and efficient commerce while protecting the natural resources so critical to our quality of life in Northeast Florida,” said Brian Taylor, CEO of the Jacksonville Port Authority. “We know this system makes us a more competitive port and will help us fulfill our mission of contributing to the region’s overall vibrancy.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) developed the system. NOAA also collects, quality controls and disseminates the data, which is updated every six minutes. The Jacksonville Marine Transportation Exchange (JMTX) purchased and installed the system through a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Visit http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/ports/ to view the data.

ICTSI’s Loan Facility Programme is the first such structure established by an Asian corporate. The Program serves as a master platform from which other loan type financing instruments can be issued as required. It also serves to harmonize the covenants, undertakings and other generic terms across the capital structure of ICTSI, in particular with its existing Euro Medium Term Note programme.

The positive reception to the innovative structure highlights the growing international market appetite for assets from the Philippines, and further establishes the credentials of ICTSI’s management in bringing pioneering initiatives to the capital markets.  

Commenting on the innovative structure and its acceptance by the market, Rafael J Consing, ICTSI Vice President & Treasurer, said:  “We are very pleased with the result of the syndication.  This transaction highlights the core attributes most suitable to our funding needs – streamlined execution, reduced negative interest carry, incurrence-based covenant regime and a diversified funding base.”

The Revolving Facility is the first tap from the Programme.  The funds available under the Programme will be used for strategic investments and acquisitions in addition to general corporate purposes.

The facility was originally launched at USD250 million, and was subsequently increased to USD350 million on the back of strong demand from banks from the Asia-Pacific syndicated loan market. Total order book was at USD835 million, representing a 3.34 times oversubscription with interest from 24 domestic, regional and international banks.  The success of the transaction is a strong testament of the capital market’s confidence in the credit strength of ICTSI and is recognition of the deal structure.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) and Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) acted as Programme Arrangers, and fully underwrote the Revolving Facility.

Lynette V Ortiz, SCB Philippines Managing Director and Head of Global Markets, said:  “Standard Chartered is proud to support ICTSI’s growth strategy through this inaugural loan facility.  The upsize of the facility and exceptionally strong response from the market is a testament to ICTSI’s solid financial performance and leadership. SCB is firmly committed to ICTSI, and we are continuously supportive of our key clients in the Philippines.”

Panadda Manoleehakul, ANZ CEO for Philippines and Thailand, said:  “At a final size of USD350M and an oversubscription of 3.34 times of the original deal size, this transaction is the largest USD Philippine loan in the year to date and one of the most successful syndicated loans ever.  The first-of-a-kind Loan Facility Programme also breaks new ground in syndication loan documentation in Asia.”

The new systems, taking the total supplied by Trelleborg to the Southampton container terminal to over 110, will allow the terminal to berth the latest ultra-large container ships.

Richard Hepworth, President of Trelleborg Marine Systems, says: “It’s testament to the success of the solutions we have previously supplied for the terminal that DP World Southampton awarded us the contract for the latest batch of fenders and accessories. With vessel sizes increasing, infrastructure needs to keep up and DP World Southampton is, again, leading the charge.”

Brin Humphreys, Head of Engineering at DP World Southampton, said: “Due to the proven performance of the systems supplied by Trelleborg, we had no hesitation in turning to them once again. It was clear they had the capabilities to successfully deliver our expectations and requirements again.”

When the project is complete, Southampton will offer 1.87 kilometers of deep water quay, with up to 16 meters depth alongside. 16 quayside gantry cranes with super post panamax capacity will also enable berthing for vessels over 400 meters in length.

Trelleborg’s UE1000 Unit Element fenders were originally installed on SCT 1 berth in 1996. When the refurbishment program to SCT 2, 3 and 4 berths began in 2011, DP World Southampton was keen to maintain the existing berthing line with SCT 1 berth. 

The first half of SCT 2 berth was refurbished in spring 2012, when Trelleborg supplied 17 fender systems. The latest order for the remaining 74 systems brings the total supplied by Trelleborg to 91 along the entire length of SCT 2, 3 and 4 berths. This takes the total number of systems supplied by Trelleborg to over 110, including the original supply to SCT 1 berth.