APM Terminals records ‘strongest ever’ year

29 Feb 2012 - Cargo volumes and throughput, Containers

APM Terminals added five new locations to its company portfolio, including Callao (Peru). Image: APM Terminals

• Revenues and profits rise as global terminal operator continues to grow

APM Terminals, the container handling division of A.P Moller-Maersk, has reported record breaking results for the 2011 calendar year.

With revenues rising 10 percent year-on-year and an EBITDA of US$ 1,059 million, the year culminated in being APM Terminals’ “strongest ever”, according to company CEO Kim Fejfer.

The Hague-based global port operator recorded a net operating profit after tax of $649 million, while profits, excluding sales gains and impairment losses, increased by 24 percent over the previous year to $611 million.

“This shows that APM Terminals is tracking well towards our long term goal of being the best and most profitable global port operator in the world. Profitability is our license to grow,” said Fejfer.

APM Terminals also reported that the return on invested capital (ROIC) reached 13.1 percent, a significant rise in profitability from 2010 where the return percentage was 10.4 percent when corrected for divestment gains and special items.

With the majority of industry analysts forecasting a large need for additional port capacity over the next decade, Fejfer added that the firm was eager to secure the lion’s share of global growth opportunities.

“If there were such a thing as a ‘market share’ for expansion, we believe that APM Terminals would be the number one global port operator in 2011 in that category,” said Fejfer.

“We committed more than $3 billion to infrastructure development and facility expansion in 2011 and expect to do something similar in 2012.”

During 2011, APM Terminals added five new locations to its company portfolio, including Poti (Georgia), Moin (Costa Rica), and Callao (Peru)

APM Terminals has also recently announced upcoming investments in Izmir, Turkey.

The terminal operator handled 33.5 million TEU in 2011, representing an increase of 8 percent on a like-for-like basis.

“We are very humble about the fact that although financial performance went well some of our customers’ experience has been more mixed as operations in container terminals in North Africa and the Middle East were negatively influenced by unrest related to the Arab Spring during 2011.”

In contrast to APM Terminals’ yearly figures, A.P. Moller-Maersk’s container business, Maersk Line, the world’s largest, reported losses of US$537 million in 2011.
The company cited lower freight rates and slow market growth as the main contributors to the negative container line result, and admitted that it was expecting to post further losses again this year.