Philippines’ ICTSI Pursues Emerging Market Port Deals Amid Trade Shifts

By Neil Jerome Morales and Rosalind Mathieson (Bloomberg) —

International Container Terminal Services, Inc. is pursuing further acquisitions in emerging economies, with the top Philippine port operator benefiting from a shift in trade flows triggered by the tariff war.

“Still hoping to close a few deals in southern Africa, very very active in Latin America,” ICTSI Executive Vice President Christian Gonzalez said in an interview on Tuesday with Bloomberg Television’s Tom Mackenzie in London.

The firm is also “actively looking at opportunities” at its home base, Southeast Asia, that are “not necessarily tenders but rather private acquisitions,” he said.

ICTSI, which runs more than 30 ports and terminals globally, has been active on the acquisition front in the past years. It recently bought a majority stake in a Brazil marine property that can be used as additional capacity for its terminal operations there. It has also signed a pact to develop a container terminal in Batam in Indonesia.

“Put a basket of 30 ports together across 19 emerging market countries and you see a lot less volatility and you are able to take advantage of the consumption-driven trade growth that you get in these kinds of places,” Gonzalez said.

Speaking with Bloomberg News in a separate interview, Gonzalez did note the emerging market landscape had become more competitive.

“Twenty or thirty years ago there were two or three that wanted to play in this space and now everyone wants to get involved in emerging market ports — state-owned enterprises, vertically integrated port operators that are owned by shipping lines who are awash with cash because of the Covid boom,” he said. “So I think what we’re seeing is we’re getting fewer of them with far more competitors for the assets.”

Ahead of higher US tariffs on Philippine goods that took effect last month, ICTSI reported its first-half profit grew 15% to a record $483.8 million, buoyed by strong volumes. Port operators around the world saw high single-digit to low double-digit volume growth so far this year, which will likely continue for the rest of 2025, Gonzalez said.

Given the noise on the tariff war, Chinese exporters shifted their trade to Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa, benefiting ICTSI because of its presence in those regions, Gonzalez said. But a major slowdown could still occur, with medium- to long-term impact of elevated tariffs yet to be seen, he said.

One way to parse that tariff noise for a picture of underlying demand for goods was to look at demographics, the ICTSI executive said.

“The real focus is what the demographics are looking like, how it is moving along the income per capita line and if you look at our portfolio you will see that in most of those countries. The populations are such that it indicates long-term growth for us.”

ICTSI is owned by tycoon Enrique Razon, the Philippines’ second-richest person with a net worth of $12.6 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.

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