The announcement this week that CK Hutchison is selling its 80% stake in Hutchison Ports Holding to a Blackrock-TiL consortium is set to “rocket” Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) to the top of Drewry’s Global Terminal Operator (GTO) league table, the UK shipping consultancy has said in an update.
MSC’s stunning $22.8bn deal with BlackRock to take over Hutchison’s non-China terminals will see the carrier vault over the likes of PSA International, COSCO, APM Terminals and DP World on Drewry’s list to boast a combined volume of 78.3m teu.
The record-breaking deal will require a lengthy regulatory approval from across the world. The ports transaction covers 43 ports comprising 199 berths in 23 countries.
“This is a landmark deal for the sector which will skyrocket MSC to the top of our global terminal operator league tables, but we do expect that there will need to be some rationalisation of the portfolios to meet regulatory requirements,” commented Eleanor Hadland, Drewry’s senior associate for ports and terminals.
“This feels like the end of an era,” Hadland told Splash, adding: “Hutchison was one of the first global container terminal operators, and in the early 2000s it regularly topped our league tables. However, in the past two to three years MSC has made major strides to develop its terminal portfolio, and alongside the increase in terminal numbers we have also seen TiL’s corporate culture evolve – it has a well-deserved reputation for efficiency and is really driving the synergies between liner and terminal networks.”
“Assuming that all 43 international terminals in the Hutchison portfolio will smoothly convert into MSC/TiL terminals is premature, especially as many of them may not line up with the operational strategies and tactics,” suggested Kris Kosmala, a ports consultant, in conversation with Splash today.
In the short term, Kosmala expected it to be business as usual with each terminal observing its contractual obligations.
“In the mid-term, we will see some of those terminals change hands again, as BlackRock will attempt to rationalise the portfolio based on their expectations of ROI,” Kosmala predicted.
MSC’s acquisition – and its new status as a standalone operator on the main east-west trades – will likely result in a rejigging of its global network to call at its newly acquired terminals, while other rivals will likely look to shift business away.
Lars Jensen, who heads up container shipping advisory Vespucci Maritime, suggested via LinkedIn that the acquisition provides MSC with the possibility to get a much larger level of operational control over many of the key gateway ports and transhipment hubs in its network.
While details on the structure of the deal have not yet been released, the partnership between MSC and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), which was acquired by BlackRock in 2024, dates back to 2013.
“The synergies between TiL and MSC’s carrier business are clear – the ability to guarantee volumes from the liner gives TiL a clear edge when negotiating both concessions and acquisitions, and GIP provides a source of alternative funding that has undoubtedly been well utilised to build the portfolio,” Drewry commented in an update yesterday.
