…CMPort Completes Acquisition of Brazil’s Container Terminal***
British opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has backed Britain remaining in a customs union after Brexit, in a policy shift that adds to pressure on Prime Minister, Theresa May.
Corbyn’s change means that most of his Labour Party lawmakers are likely to vote with pro-EU rebels in May’s Conservative party, who have tabled an amendment to her trade bill to keep Britain in a form of customs union with the EU.
“We have long argued that a customs union is a viable option for the final deal,” Corbyn said in his speech, confirming a move signalled by his party’s Brexit spokesman the day before.
“So, Labour would seek to negotiate a new comprehensive UK-EU customs union to ensure that there are no tariffs with Europe and to help avoid any need for a hard border in Northern Ireland.”
Corbyn appealed to lawmakers from all parties to “put the people’s interests before ideological fantasies [and] join us in supporting the option of a new UK customs union with the EU.”
After discussing Brexit policy on Feb. 23, May’s cabinet agreed that Britain will not join any customs union after it leaves the EU customs union and single market in March 2019.
Ahead of his speech, Corbyn also came under pressure from a Labour Campaign for the Single Market, backed by 37 of the party’s 259 lawmakers, to advocate Britain remaining in the single market after Brexit.
Corbyn said Labour “would negotiate a new and strong relationship with the single market that includes full tariff-free access and a floor under existing rights, standards and protections.”
Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s China Merchants Port Holdings Company (CMPort) has completed the acquisition of Paranaguá Container Terminal (TCP), the second-largest container terminal in Brazil.
Under the terms of the share and purchase agreement inked in September 2017, CMPort has bought a 90% stake in TCP for HKD 7.23 billion (around USD 924 million).
The acquisition is said to be the biggest merger and acquisition so far in Brazilian and Latin American port sector.
The investment, part of the efforts to implement the “Belt and Road” initiative in the region, is CMPort’s first in Latin America. In addition, the investment represents the first M&A in mature port assets overseas with controlling stake, according to the company.
Representatives of CMPort and TCP signed the letter of intent to close the transaction on February 22.
“Today’s ceremony definitely represents the perfect opening of Sino-Brazil economic and trade cooperation in 2018… We believe under the support and coordination between China and Brazil, TCP will have a brighter future,” Li Jinzhang, Chinese Ambassador to Brazil, commented on the occasion.
“With TCP as the starting point, CMG will continuously promote the commercial and trade cooperation between the BRICS countries, especially in the fields such as Brazil’s integrated logistics, transportation related infrastructure and logistic parks, in order to look for more opportunities on investment, development and operation,” Hu Jianhua, Vice Chairman of CMPort and the Executive Vice President of China Merchants Group Limited, said.
Located on the southeast coast of Paraná State of Brazil, TCP has an existing design capacity of 1.5 million TEUs. The terminal, with three container berths, is expected to increase its capacity to 2.4 million TEUs by the end of 2019.
Additional report from World Maritime News
