The Mississippi State Port Authority has signed a letter of intent to evaluate a private-public partnership with terminal operator Yilport Holding that it says could lead to substantial investment in facility and equipment upgrades.
The Mississippi State Port Authority has signed a letter of intent to discuss future port expansion and an exclusive lease with Yilport Holding A.S., a subsidiary of Yildirim Group of Companies.
“With the Port of Gulfport nearing completion of the $570 million restoration project, Yilport Holding would commit to investing in additional facility and equipment upgrades,” the port and the Turkey-based terminal operator said in a joint announcement.
Gulfport handled more than 2.5 million tons of cargo, including 216,683 TEUs, in 2017. Yilport said its terminals handled 4.3 million TEUs last year.
Yilport recorded 9.5 million tons of general cargo volume, 364,100 CEU of roll-on/roll-off operations and 3.67 million cubic meters of liquid cargo volume in 2017. The firm also owns a 50 percent share in Malta Freeport, which handled 3.15 million containers last year.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in November released a record of decision for a Port of Gulfport expansion project that is expected to include a 282-acre dredge-and-fill program for further expansion of the west pier, north harbor and east pier, as well as the construction of a 4,000-linear-foot breakwater system.
“As we continue discussions with Yilport, the Port of Gulfport has a unique opportunity to evaluate a private-public partnership that could lead to a significant investment in additional infrastructure and provide both parties with increased global coverage,” said Port Executive Director and CEO Jonathan Daniels. “Our central location will allow Yilport to further expand international trade lanes from Gulfport and increase cargo throughput.”
Some analysts believe that port authorities increasingly will turn to private-public partnerships and foreign investors to fund needed infrastructure.
In late March the State of Delaware struck a preliminary agreement with United Arab Emirates-based terminal operator Gulftainer Group. If the agreement is finalized, Gulftainer would lease the Port of Wilmington for 50 years, and invest $580 million, including $410 million for a new container terminal on the Delaware River. Gulftainer already operates a container terminal in Port Canaveral, Fla.
On Friday, the board of directors of the Diamond State Port Corporation, which oversees Wilmington, voted to approve the deal with Gulftainer.The Delaware General Assembly must also okay the deal
The Gulfport facility would be Yilport’s first terminal in North America, although it does operate a ferroalloys production and refining facility in Butler, Pa. Yilport has full or partial ownership of 19 terminals in Turkey, Malta, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Ecuador and Peru. The company was ranked as the 15th-largest terminal operator in a Drewry survey from 2016, the same year Yilport acquired the Portuguese terminal operator Tertir. Parent company Yildrim also has a 24 percent stake in CMA CGM Group, the third-largest container shipping company in the world.
“Since we believe that we have very good know-how and the expertise in multipurpose port operations globally and we see lack of investments in many U.S. ports, we are committed to Gulfport Port Authority to upgrade, improve terminal productivity and services by applying state-of-the-art port technologies at Gulfport in order to make the port the most competitive port in that region,” said Robert Yuksel Yildirim, chairman of Yilport Holding.
“We see a great potential to feed volume, particularly refrigerated goods to Gulfport from Yilport terminals in Ecuador and Peru and Latin America to reach Midwest USA,” he said. “There is further potential in leveraging the company’s trading subsidiary to handle containerized liquid and bulk products out of the U.S. Gulf Coast region for small and medium-sized shippers.”
The Port of Gulfport would not be the first public-private investment for Yilport. In August 2016, the company committed to invest $750 million for the development and modernization of the Puerto Bolivar port in Machala, Ecuador. According to Yilport, Puerto Bolivar is one of the largest shipment points for fruits and seafood, and upon completion of five investment phases, the port will have an annual container-handling capacity of 2.5 million TEUs.
The Yildirim Group has operations in 49 countries on four continents. In addition to ports and logistics, its businesses include metals and mining, energy production, fertilizer and chemical production, international trade, industrial construction, real estate development and shipbuilding.
