ICTSI profit dips 5% to P3.04-B in 2002

International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) said yesterday profits declined by five percent last year to P3.04 billion from P3.2 billion a year earlier as it booked a one-time asset impairment loss of P327 million resulting from the closure of its inland container depot (ICD) in Laguna.

Last December, ICX Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary which was merged with ICTSI in 2002 to minimize overhead costs, shut down the operations of its rail-serviced ICD in Calamba, Laguna owing to continued losses since 1998.

The losses were attributed to the slowdown in investments and trade volume in the Calabarzon, the ICD’s main market, in the past four years.

ICTSI said its 2002 net income included non-recurring pre-tax gains and write-offs relating to its subsidiaries. International Container Terminal Holdings Inc., a wholly-owned subsidary of ICTSI, booked a one-time gain of P3.5 billion from the completion of the sale of IIHC to the Hutchison Group of Hong Kong.

ICTSI’s consolidated revenues, on the other hand, grew 26 percent to P5.5 billion from P4.4 billion, driven by strong volume growth from its operating terminals. Consolidated volumes rose 20 percent from 973,813 TEUs to 1,165,009 TEUs while group-wide container volumes handled increased by 17 percent to 1.3 million TEUs.

Improved productivity, coupled with effective cost reduction efforts, led to a hefty 47 percent increase in ICTSI’s consolidated income from operations, from P702.7 million in 2001 to P1 billion a year ago. In particular, the Manila International Container Terminal’s operating margin improved by 37 percent.

The MICT, ICTSI’s flagship operation, marked a milestone in December last year when the terminal handled its one millionth TEU. For 2002, MICT’s throughput went up by 11 percent to 1.04 million TEUs.

Subic Bay International Terminal Corp., operator of the NSD terminal at the Subic Bay Freeport, reported a 47-percent increase in volume to 53,943 TEUs.

ICTSI expects its net income to improve this year with the addition of more international concession projects. It recently bagged the right to operate the Baltic Container Terminal (BCT) in Gdynia, Poland.

It will assume full operational control of the BCT by the middle of the year.

Last year, the BCT handled a total throughput of 250,000 TEUs.

ICTSI is also eyeing projects in Canada, India, Japan, Australia, and Thailand.