MSC is said to have acquired a controlling interest of 51% in the Ukrainian TIS Group. The terminal operator is active in the port of Pivdennyi near Odessa.
The shares are said to have previously been held by DP World . The Dubai-based company sold its stake to the founders of the TIS Group in March and withdrew from Ukraine. As part of the transaction, TIS is also said to have regained control of the tugboat business, which was previously operated as P&O Maritime Ukraine.
TIS is the largest private terminal operator in Ukraine. The company was founded in 1994. Before the war in Ukraine, more than 30 million tons of cargo were handled annually at the TIS terminals in the port of Pivdennyi, part of the Odessa metropolitan area. The share of the total Ukrainian cargo volume is said to have been 20%.
The port has specialized facilities for grain, bulk cargo, project cargo and containers. There are also direct road and rail connections to the hinterland. The container terminal is described as the deepest in Ukraine.
The takeover is still subject to regulatory approvals. The background to this is that MSC also holds a major stake in Hamburg-based HHLA, which in turn owns a container terminal in Odessa.
For MSC, the investment is a further step in the expansion of its terminal and logistics activities. Last year, the Group had already acquired stakes in an intermodal logistics company in Ukraine and in a cross-border terminal.
