Port operator International Container Terminal Inc. said Tuesday it completed the world’s most technologically advanced container terminal in Melbourne, Australia.
“This is an achievement that everyone who have helped build the terminal and are invested in the success of the State of Victoria should celebrate,” ICTSI chairman and chief executive Enrique Razon Jr. said.
“Once we start operations in January, Victoria International Container Terminal [VICT] will be the most technologically advanced container terminal in the world,” Razon said.
VICT signed a 26-year concession with the Port of Melbourne Corp. in 2014 to build, operate and expand the container terminal at Webb Dock East. The contract covers July 2014 to June 2040.
The container terminal area covers 35.4 hectares that can handle 1.4 million standard containers annually once it is fully built. It will have two berths and six post-Panamax ship-to-shore cranes.
ICTSI invested $400 million in Melborne Port.
The port operator earlier posted a net income of $150.8 million in January to September, up from $143.7 million in the same period last year.
ICTSI’s net profit in the third quarter jumped 53 percent to $58.2 million from last year’s $38 million, as revenues from port operations increased 15 percent to $390.3 million from $339.5 million.
ICTSI earmarked $420 million in capital expenditure this year, of which $297.9 million was spent in the first nine months.
The budget is mainly allocated for the completion of the initial stage of the company’s new container terminals in Australia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq and the continuing development of projects in Honduras and Mexico.
ICTSI also invested $50.1 million for the development of Sociedad Puerto Industrial Aguadulce S.A., its joint venture container terminal development project with PSA International Pte Ltd. in Buenaventura, Colombia.