LONDON: Global Ports’ container traffic slumped 31 percent and revenue sank 28 percent in 2015 as Russia’s contracting economy and the ruble’s slide continued to take its toll on the nation’s largest port operator.
The London-listed company’s revenue declined to $405.7 million from $562.4 million in 2014 and operating profit was a third lower at $184.8 million against $278.6 million last time.
Container volume at the group’s seven terminals — five in the Baltic and Russia’s Far East and two in Finland — dived to 1.8 million 20-foot-equivalent units from 2.65 million TEUs in the previous year.
“The macro-economic backdrop in Russia continues to be challenging and the container market has inevitably felt the effects of this,” Vladislav Baumgertner, CEO of Global Ports Management, said.
“In 2015 we tried to mitigate as much as possible the macro impact on our company’s performance while still preserving our undoubted long-term potential.”
The company said it has paid down more than $290 million in debt since its $1.6 billion acquisition of domestic rival National Container Company in September 2013, which gave it a 50 percent share of the Russian container terminal market.
“We fully expect 2016 to be another challenging year,” Baumgertner said. “So far we have seen no signs of a market recovery and at the same time competition in our industry is intensifying.”
APM Terminals, the Maersk Group’s port arm, and N-Trans, a privately held Russian transport and infrastructure group, each have a 30.75 percent stake in Global Ports, with 20.5 percent of the shares traded on the London stock exchange.
APM Terminals, which paid $860 million for a 37.5 percent stake in Global Ports in 2012, booked a $102 million impairment in the fourth quarter of 2014 due to lower-than-expected container traffic in Russia.
But APM Terminals’ CEO Kim Fejfer has said the company will not reduce its stake and has expressed optimism over the long term prospects for the Russian container market.
