ICTSI shares climb on 25-year South Africa port terminal deal

SHARES of International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) climbed last week after it secured a 25-year concession to operate South Africa’s busiest state-owned port terminal, lifting trading activity and reinforcing investor confidence in its overseas expansion strategy.

- By Pierce Oel A. Montalvo

ICTSI was the second-most actively traded stock, according to Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) data, with 6.23 million shares worth P3.74 billion changing hands during the week. The stock rose 3.9% to P610, outperforming both the service sector’s 1.4% gain and the Philippine Stock Exchange index’s (PSEi) 1.5% rise.

The stock has surged 58% from its P386 close on the last trading day of 2024, far ahead of the service sector’s 20.7% increase and the PSEi’s 7.5% decline. Trading was paused on Monday due to the Feast of the Immaculate Conception holiday.

The rally came after South Africa’s Transnet SOC Ltd. signed a 25-year agreement on Thursday giving ICTSI the right to upgrade and operate the Durban Container Terminal Pier 2 (DCT2), the biggest facility in Transnet’s port system. DCT2 handles more than 70% of the Port of Durban’s throughput and about 46% of South Africa’s entire port activity.

The terminal includes 1,760 meters of quay length and 120 hectares of yard and support areas. Under the deal, ICTSI will expand DCT2’s handling capacity to 2.8 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), or 800,000 TEUs more than its volume now, through equipment and modernization works. Project rollout is expected to start in January 2026.