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Enoch Yiu

Hutchison Port Holdings, the world's biggest container terminal operator, could lose a port project in   Ecuador  after the country's president said the company could not meet a timetable for its HK$4 billion investment at the Manta cargo port.
President Rafael Correa said  during his weekly radio broadcast at the weekend  that he had 'pulled out a yellow card' against the delay.
Mr Correa said  if Hutchison could not meet its commitments, 'it will have to leave the country and you know we are not joking'.
Anthony Tam, a spokesman for Hutchison Port, said last night the company was 'in compliance with the concession agreement, and has been working closely with the local authorities to develop modern container-handling facilities' at Manta.
Hutchison Port was 'committed to the long-term development of port infrastructure in Ecuador', he said. 'We have not heard anything about changes to our concession contract.'
Hutchison Whampoa chairman Li Ka-shing earlier  said he would consider  holding back some overseas investments due to the financial crisis.
Hutchison Port, a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa, in September 2006 agreed to spend up to HK$4 billion to develop and manage the port of Manta  for the life of the project's 30-year concession.
It was the first time the Ecuadorean government had allowed foreign interests to develop its ports and was Hutchison's ninth port project in the Americas.
According to the  Hutchison website, Terminales Internacionales de Ecuador  operates within an area of 15 hectares,  or only 20 per cent of the total planned 75-hectare  project when  all phases of development are completed.
Neither the company's website nor Mr Correa gave details of the timetable of the development plan.
The port of Manta, about 250km from the  capital  Quito, is a  publicly owned container port described by the company as 'the most accessible terminal in Ecuador and the closest natural deepwater port to Asia on the Pacific coast of South America'.
The port  handled just under  40,000 20-foot equivalent units (teu) in 2005.
On completion of all phases of development, according to the Hutchison website,  the facility  would cover  75 hectares and  feature a  quay length of 1.5km  with a depth  of up to 16 metres.
Analysts said the dock length represented about three deepwater berths, or enough to handle about 1.5 million teu each year.
'It is natural for Hutchison to be more conservative in its overseas port investment amid the global financial crisis,' said Louis Tse Ming-kwong, a director of VC Brokerage. 'The export activities are getting slower. A quick investment in an overseas port may not always bring a good, quick return.'
Mr Tse  said even if the Ecuador project  did not proceed,  it would not have a big impact on Hutchison,   which has interests in  50 ports spanning 26 countries.



Hutchison may lose HK$4b Ecuador port deal