Market Pulse 2025 Week 10

MSC’s ascension to the top of the container terminal operators table was as remarkable as its rise to the top containership operator rank and leaves little room for its rivals to catch up. The bold move by MSC and its consortium partners to acquire Hutchison Ports’ terminal assets ex China will widen MSC’s global footprint, with access to new hubs in Rotterdam, Felixstowe, Port Klang, Laem Chabang, Lazaro Cardenas, Balboa and Cristobal that will complement MSC’s existing terminals in Europe, North America, Africa and Asia. These terminal assets will also provide steady income for MSC that is more resilient than the liner shipping business. The SCFI rate slide continued for the 9th consecutive week with still no signs of any pick up in cargo demand or meaningful capacity cut backs by carriers with the market sentiment remaining negative.

MSC seals global container terminals lead with HPH port deal
MSC will leapfrog its rivals to become the largest global container port operator with the addition of Hutchison Port’s portfolio of terminals outside of China comprising of 39 terminals in 21 countries with consolidated container handling volumes of 51m TEU in 2024. MSC’s terminal operating arm, TIL, together with consortium partners BlackRock and Global Infrastructure Partners announced on 4 March 2025 an agreement to acquire 80% of Hutchison’s port interests at a total enterprise value of $22.765 Bn in the largest ever port asset transaction. MSC had also acquired a 49.9% stake in HHLA in November 2024. The combined equity adjusted throughput of TIL/MSC terminals with the new HHLA and Hutchison terminals will exceed 70m TEU, placing it at the top of the global container port operator rankings. The BlackRock-TIL deal includes HPH’s 90% stake in the Panamanian ports of Balboa and Cristobal that accounts for 9% of the total throughput of the HPH portfolio ex China on an equity adjusted basis.