Page 9 - Sphere No.31 (Jul 2012)

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Sphere 31
Ports and Related Services
Ports are a foundation stone in Hutchison
Whampoa’s history. The Hongkong and
Whampoa Dock Company was established in
1866 and provided ship construction and repair services for
over 100 years before diversifying into cargo and container
handling operations in 1969. The company began its
international foray in the 1980s with the acquisition of the Port
of Felixstowe, but it was not until the late 1990s and early 2000s
that the ports division began pursuing aggressive international
acquisitions. Today, Hutchison operates 52 ports in 26 countries
in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas.
Despite the cloud of economic uncertainty that has spooked
some financial markets and dented consumer confidence
in some countries, the ports division has continued to grow
modestly. The group’s total container throughput, measured in
twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) has risen every year for the
past two decades, save for a slight downturn in 2009.
In light of this moderate growth, two new deep-water berths
were opened in 2011 in the Port of Felixstowe, the UK’s largest
container port, alongside the acquisition of operating rights to
four berths in Ajman Port in the United Arab Emirates.
In 2012, the ports division will open six new berths,
including three in Barcelona, Spain, set to become some of the
most modern semi-automated facilities in the world, serving
Southern Europe in addition to Spain. The remaining three will
be opened in Huizhou, China and Westports, Malaysia. In 2013,
nine more berths are scheduled to come into operation.