Cosco buys into Red Sea Gateway Terminal

China’s Cosco Shipping Ports (CSPL) has entered into an agreement with shareholders of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Gateway Terminal (RSGT) to acquire a 20% stake in the terminal for a price of $140m. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has also acquired 20% of the terminal for the same price.

Red Sea Gateway Terminal is the largest terminal at the Jeddah Islamic Port, which is the largest port in Saudi Arabia.

Completion of the deal is subject to the approval of the Saudi Arabian Ports Authority (Mawani), as well as other customary approvals.

“With the growth of maritime trade in the future, the board believes that the container throughput at the Jeddah Islamic Port and Red Sea Gateway Terminal will keep growing in the future…. benefiting from a stable source of container volume, the acquisition is expected to boost the company’s throughput and profitability,” CSPL said in a release.

“Adding PIF and CSPL as shareholders will accelerate RSGT’s domestic and international growth plans. As the largest terminal operator on the Red Sea and in Saudi Arabia, we are committed to serving the growing requirements of international cargo and container services throughout the global logistics chain and to fulfilling our customers’ needs and the goals of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 program for infrastructure and port development,” said RSGT’s CEO Jens Floe.