International Container Terminal Services Inc's (ICTSI) Australia unit has signed a AUD398m ($300m) loan facility for the construction and development of its highly automated Victoria International Container Terminal (VICT).

The facility is with seven banks - Citibank, KFW IPEX-Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of China, DBS Bank, Investec Bank, and Cathay United Bank – and has financial flexibility with long-dated tenors of seven, 10 and 16 years.

The financing will support the ongoing construction of VICT in Melbourne. Construction of the terminal started in late 2014 and phase one is expected to start commercial operations in the fourth quarter of 2016, with phase two coming onstream in 2017.

“The VICT deal has pushed the project finance envelope in Australia on a number of aspects, and this has made the process quite challenging,” said ICTSI Corporate finance director Manuel V. Pascua.

“Thanks to the collaborative effort put in together with our lending partners, we achieved a final debt structure that positions VICT for both short and long term financial strength.”

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