Photo by: Creamer Media
A South African court denied a bid by International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) to appeal a decision that temporarily stops the nation’s state-owned logistics firm from going ahead with its partnership with ICTSI to expand and run sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest container port.
The KwaZulu-Natal High Court in October blocked the deal temporarily after an AP Moller-Maersk unit, APM Terminals, challenged the award. The court on Wednesday denied ICTSI’s right to appeal the so-called interdict against Transnet, the State’s ports and rail operator.
Transnet chose not to oppose the October decision pending a full court review next year, “making it challenging for ICTSI to be granted leave to appeal the interdict,” the company owned by Filipino billionaire Enrique Razon said in a statement.
The port developer “felt it had no choice but to challenge the interdict,” because the judgment that led to the decision “contained a number of legal errors that were damaging to ICTSI’s reputation,” it said. 