Ocean cargo: Infrastructure investments paying off for some seaports
Patrick Burnson, Executive Editor -- Logistics Management, 9/29/2008
WASHINGTON—Some of the nation’s fastest growing ocean cargo gateways have come to be recognized as sound investments by the capital markets, some industry analysts contend.“Institutional investors with long-term horizons look upon container port facilities as an investment that offers returns comparable to those from traditional asset classes,” said C. Kenneth Orski, publisher of Innovation Briefs, a newsletter tracking trends in domestic surface transportation.
“A growing scarcity of deep water port capacity and environmental obstacles to building new ports have enhanced the value of existing seaports and raised expectations of higher returns on invested capital in container terminals and other port facilities,” said Orski.
Some current examples of the growing involvement of private capital in port infrastructure include Portland, Ore., which is reviewing the qualifications of ten potential private bidders for its container terminal (Terminal 6)—the first long-term concession of an existing U.S. seaport facility.
According to Korski, The Commonwealth of Virginia has also established a commission to consider privatizing the public Virginia Port Authority.
“The Port of New Orleans has invited the private sector to participate in a two-billion dollar program of facilities expansion including a new container terminal and a new cruise ship terminal,” Korski noted.
In the wake of Hurricane Ike, The Port of Corpus Christi is nonetheless proposing to build new container terminal facilities with the help of private capital.
“A private consortium is also planning a $2 billion petroleum terminal 36 miles off the cost of Freeport, Tex.,” Korski said.
The project, called the Texas Offshore Port System (TOPS), will comprise two floating connections for supertankers to unload crude, 160-mile pipeline to bring the oil onshore and along the cost to refineries in Houston, Port Arthur, and Beaumont.
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