Globalport to take over Zamboanga Port
Manila harbour operator Globalport 900 expects to seal this quarter its acquisition of Zamboanga Port, bringing the company's portfolio to three ports and expanding its presence to Mindanao, reported BusinessWorld.
"We're finalising the terms for the Zamboanga container port. It is located in Zamboanga City and covers around 40 to 50 hectares," said Michael Romero, Globalport chairman and chief executive officer.
"We expect to completely finalise the deal in the first quarter," he added.
"This is going to be our third [port] as we already have [Manila] North Harbour and we have [Manila] Harbour Centre [port terminal]."
The Zamboanga Port, located at the western tip of the Western Mindanao facing Basilan Strait, has a total port area of 156,000 sq m containing a berth, transit shed, passenger terminals, and storage areas.
It is currently designed to handle three big vessels measuring 150m each in length and 16 smaller vessels measuring 25m, the Zamboanga City Web site showed.
"It will open up new gateways for trade. Zamboanga is considered the gateway to Mindanao," Romero said. After Mindanao, Globalport is also looking at possible acquisitions in the Visayas, Romero said.
"We're looking at Visayas too, particularly Cebu. We're looking at operating and further developing a Cebu port," he said without elaborating.
Besides the Cebu base port, there are currently five sub-ports – Mandaue, Danao, Sta. Fe, Toledo, and Argao – in the province, according to the Cebu Port Authority's Web site.
