Following years of rumours and negotiations on several potential investors, finally TO Delta Group found in containerline giant MSC the right partner for its Trieste Marine Terminal. Following an article published by a small Italian blog, Pierluigi Maneschi (head of the main shareholder TO Delta and general agent for Evergreen in Italy) confirmed that a 45% stake in the container terminal located in the North Adriatic region has been sold to Marinvest, the Italian holding company of the group founded by Gianluigi Aponte. Maneschi pointed out that the new partner will have also the right to up its participation to a 50% threshold in the next few years. Market rumours say the price for the 45% stake is around €20m ($22.5m).
Nowadays Trieste Marine Terminal operates a terminal with natural depth of 18 m, hence potentially able to accommodate the new generation of containerships and, thanks to the strategic geographical position of Trieste, it’s the most direct gateway for traffic coming and going direct from Central and Eastern European countries.
In the near future the local port authority will extend the terminal concession for 60 years because Trieste Marine Terminal has a long-term €188m ($211m) investment plan that includes land fillings to double the terminal layout and capacity. In 2014 the terminal’s total throughput was 476,507 teu but the perspectives are even more promising now since MSC is expected to re-route to Trieste a wider flow of containers.
At the same time Maersk is progressively transferring more and more containers to the nearby port of Koper. It means that the 2M alliance will control the two most important gateway terminals in the North Adriatic Sea.
