Macquarie Infrastructure Partners is one firm bidding for Montreal Gateway Terminals, co-owned by CP Ships Ltd. and German container shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd AG, which operates the Racine and Cast container terminals.
“We’re in negotiations with a few companies and Macquarie is one of them,” Hapag-Lloyd spokesman Klaus Heims told The Gazette in a phone interview from Hamburg headquarters Tuesday.
Heims recalled that Hapag-Lloyd parent company, Hanover’s TUI AG, approved measures in mid-December to reduce debt and capital costs – including through the sale of a harbour terminal in the Port of Montreal and the liquidation of several smaller ships owned by CP.
He said shipping isn’t a core business for TUI. The move comes only 18 months after the $2-billion U.S. merger of CP Ships and Hapag-Lloyd to create the world’s fifth-largest container care carrier.
Kevin Doherty, managing director of Montreal Gateway, would neither confirm nor deny the pending sale. Sarah Borg-Olivier, a Macquarie Infrastructure Partners spokesperson in Toronto, said the company doesn’t comment on speculation or discuss transactions until they are finalized.
“We’re in negotiations with a few companies and Macquarie is one of them,” Hapag-Lloyd spokesman Klaus Heims told The Gazette in a phone interview from Hamburg headquarters Tuesday.
Heims recalled that Hapag-Lloyd parent company, Hanover’s TUI AG, approved measures in mid-December to reduce debt and capital costs – including through the sale of a harbour terminal in the Port of Montreal and the liquidation of several smaller ships owned by CP.
He said shipping isn’t a core business for TUI. The move comes only 18 months after the $2-billion U.S. merger of CP Ships and Hapag-Lloyd to create the world’s fifth-largest container care carrier.
Kevin Doherty, managing director of Montreal Gateway, would neither confirm nor deny the pending sale. Sarah Borg-Olivier, a Macquarie Infrastructure Partners spokesperson in Toronto, said the company doesn’t comment on speculation or discuss transactions until they are finalized.