Court Blocks Top Africa Port Deal as Maersk Contests Award
- Interim order to remain until second part of case heard
- Maersk’s APM Terminals brought the case to the court
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A South African court temporarily blocked a deal between the nation’s state-owned logistics firm and a company owned by Filipino billionaire Enrique Razon to expand and run sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest container port after A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S challenged the award.
Maersk unit APM Terminals was among the unsuccessful bidders in a tender run last year by South Africa’s state-owned Transnet SOC Ltd. to sell almost half of the main terminal in the southeastern city of Durban and operate it for 25 years. The Copenhagen-based company argued in court papers that the preferred candidate, International Container Terminal Services Inc., didn’t meet a stipulated solvency measure.