从各季度#博枫基建股东信# 中摘抄一些时效性不高的文字。使用有道机器翻译。$Brookfield基础设施(BIP)$
Spotlight on U.K. Port Operation
【聚焦英国港口运营】
Over a decade ago we acquired a U.K. port operation (PD Ports) as part of the recapitalization of Babcock and Brown Infrastructure. At the time, a significant portion of cash flows came from a single, large steel-making customer that was on the verge of bankruptcy and ultimately shut down its operations adjacent to our port. In the years since, our management team has worked tirelessly to diversify the port’s customer base and reinvent the business.
十多年前，作为BBI资本重组的一部分，我们收购了英国港口业务(PD港口)。当时，我们的很大一部分现金流来自一个大型钢铁制造客户，该客户濒临破产，最终关闭了靠近我们港口的业务。从那以后的几年里，我们的管理团队不知疲倦地工作，使港口的客户基础多样化，重塑业务。
We think an update on PD Ports is timely as it is in the early stages of another transformation with the shift towards a more sustainable economy. The business is well-positioned to benefit from increasing volumes as a result of new, sustainable industries being developed in the surrounding Tees Valley area of northeast United Kingdom.
我们认为汇报一下PD港口的近况是适时的，因为它正处于另一个向更可持续的经济转型的早期阶段。由于英国东北部蒂斯谷周边地区正在发展新的、可持续的工业，该业务处于有利地位，可以从不断增长的吞吐量中受益。
Before we describe this growth potential in greater detail, for context we will provide an overview of the merits of the business. As you would expect with any island country, port infrastructure is vital to the U.K. economy with an estimated 90% of all goods traded in the U.K. arriving by sea. Our operations, which span 13 sites on the eastern coast of the country, serve as the gateway to Northern England through critical rail and road linkages. This group of scarce, well-located and connected landlord ports unlock worldwide markets and offer direct transport links to all corners of the U.K. The business today is highly diversified through the following revenue streams:
在我们更详细地描述这种增长潜力之前，作为背景，我们将概述该业务的优点。正如你对任何岛国的预期一样，港口基础设施对英国经济至关重要，据估计，英国90%的贸易货物都是通过海路抵达的。我们的业务跨越了该国东部海岸的13个设施，通过关键的铁路和公路连接成为通往英格兰北部的门户。这群稀缺、地理位置优越、联系紧密的业主港口打开了全球市场，并为英国各个角落提供直接运输连接。今天的业务通过以下收入来源高度多样化:
Statutory Harbour Authority (SHA) status – We own the perpetual right to look after a river system and charge customers to travel through this body of water. These fees, levied on goods and ships transiting through the area, contribute over 40% of EBITDA and provide recurring, stable, and inflation-linked cash flows.
法定港口管理局(SHA)身份——我们拥有永久的权利来管理河流系统，并向通过这片水域的客户收取费用。这些费用是对通过该地区的货物和船舶征收的，占EBITDA的40%以上，并提供经常性的、稳定的、与通胀挂钩的现金流。
As a landlord port, the business also leases land adjacent to the port under long-term agreements with a diverse group of high-quality counterparties. Renewal rates are extremely high given the strategic location of the port and access to deep water. These leases have a remaining weighted average term of more than 20 years with embedded inflation escalation and contribute approximately 40% of EBITDA.
作为港口的业主，我们还与不同的高质量交易对手方签订长期土地协议，租赁港口附近的土地。考虑到港口的战略位置和深水通道，续约率极高。这些租赁的剩余加权平均期限超过20年，而且租金跟随通货膨胀上升，约占EBITDA的40%。
Port operation services contribute approximately 20% of EBITDA and involve handling a mix of container and bulk cargo. These services are integral to customer supply chains, and often include minimum volume guarantees under long-term contracts. Anticipated economic expansion should lead to increased throughput and additional development opportunities for the business.
港口运营服务约占EBITDA的20%，涉及集装箱和散货混合处理。这些服务是客户供应链的组成部分，通常包括长期合同下的最低运量保证。预期的经济扩张将带来吞吐量的增加和业务的额外发展机会。
The evolution of the port did not happen overnight. To best position the business and enable it to benefit from attractive regional dynamics, we delivered on the following value creation activities over the past decade:
这个港口的发展不是一夜之间发生的。为使业务处于最佳的位置，并使其能够从具有吸引力的区域动态中受益，我们在过去十年开展了以下创造价值的活动:
Pursuit of a port-centric strategy focused on integration with customer supply chains and attracting new volumes to the terminal: This has provided stable, contracted cash flows as well as encouraged customers to invest in facilities on land owned by PD Ports. A great example of this strategy is the decision made by Tesco, a leading U.K. grocery chain, to invest over £130 million to develop a critical distribution center on PD Ports land. This secured container volumes for the port for many years to come and in the process, attracted new shipping lines, supporting the growth of the container platform.
追求以港口为中心的战略，专注于与客户供应链的整合，并吸引新的运量到码头: 这提供了稳定的、收缩的现金流，并鼓励客户在PD港口拥有的土地上投资设施。
这一战略的一个很好的例子是，英国领先的食品杂货连锁店乐购(Tesco)决定投资1.3亿英镑在PD港口土地上开发一个关键的配送中心。这为该港口未来多年的集装箱运量提供了保障，并在此过程中吸引了新的航运公司，支持了集装箱平台的增长。
Re-invested over £120 million of operating cash flows into the terminal to expand facilities, enhance capacity and modernize our infrastructure: These initiatives include an upgrade of quay infrastructure to take advantage of deep-sea access to handle larger ships and associated volumes and the refurbishment and development of warehouse facilities to support bulk volume growth.
再投资超过1.2亿英镑的运营现金流到码头，以扩大设施，提高能力和现代化我们的基础设施: 这些举措包括码头基础设施的升级，以利用深水通道处理更大的船舶和相关的运量，以及仓库设施的翻新和发展，以支持散装量的增长。
Actively attracted new, long-term customers to the region, including the development of the world’s largest biomass power station: In fact, this facility is the final stages of construction and will utilize the same port infrastructure previously occupied by the aforementioned insolvent steel producer to import its biomass feedstock. Our customer has invested approximately £650 million into the plant and entered into a 33-year land lease to operate at PD Ports’ facilities.
积极吸引新的长期客户到该地区，包括发展世界上最大的生物质发电站: 事实上，该设施处在建设的最后阶段，将利用以前由上述资不抵债的钢铁生产商占用进口其生物质原料的港口基础设施。我们的客户已经向工厂投资了大约6.5亿英镑，并签订了一份33年的土地租赁合同，在PD港口的设施上运营。
Significant investment into port automation to enable the transition away from carbon intensive activities and into renewable and sustainably sourced goods and products: These activities are supporting the business’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2027.
大量投资于港口自动化，以实现从碳密集型活动向可再生和可持续来源的商品和产品的过渡: 这些活动支持企业在2027年实现碳中和的目标。
Refinanced the legacy capital structure inherited with the business in 2009: The new financing increased debt levels in the business commensurate with its growing EBITDA, while also providing operational flexibility and lowering annual financing costs.
对2009年继承的遗留资本结构进行再融资: 新的融资增加了业务的债务水平，与其不断增长的EBITDA相适应，同时也提供了运营灵活性，降低了年度融资成本。
The business has performed extremely well in the last decade and the next 10 years look to be even better. With the proactive and advanced stage of its vaccine rollout, the U.K. is poised to experience near-term economic expansion ahead of many other parts of the world. This has led to consensus economic forecasts for GDP growth in 2021 and 2022 to range between 5-6%. This economic expansion coincides with the emergence from nearly a half-decade of Brexit induced trade overhang. The U.K.’s recent official exit from the EU has promoted stability in its financial markets and clarity to those who have foreign operations in the region.
在过去的十年里，这项业务表现得非常好，未来的十年看起来会更好。随着疫苗推出的积极进展，英国有望先于世界许多其他地区经历近期的经济扩张。这导致对2021年和2022年GDP增长的普遍预测在5-6%之间。与此同时，英国摆脱了近5年的脱欧导致的贸易过剩。英国最近正式退出欧盟，促进了英国金融市场的稳定，也让在该地区有外国业务的企业更加清晰。
To encourage further investment and promote new trade relationships with the EU, the U.K. government awarded eight coveted “Freeport” status designations, one of which was given to Teesside, our PD Ports’ main location. Freeport status provides benefits from a broad package of tax savings, simplified customs procedures, streamlined redevelopment planning processes, and government support to stimulate regeneration and innovation.
为了鼓励进一步的投资和促进与欧盟的新的贸易关系，英国政府授予了8个令人垂涎的“自由港”地位，其中一个被授予了蒂赛德港，我们的PD港口的主要地点。自由港的地位提供了广泛的税收减免、简化的海关手续、精简的重建规划流程以及政府刺激再生和创新的支持。
In addition to a favorable macroeconomic backdrop, the business has exceptional and highly visible near-term growth, as well as a substantial backlog of future opportunities. First, PD Ports receives annual inflationary tariff increases on 80% of its revenues, which bodes well for consensus near-term inflationary expectations.
除了有利的宏观经济背景外，该业务近期增长异常明显，以及大量积压的未来机会。首先，PD港口每年80%收入的收费标准与通货膨胀挂钩，而近期普遍的通货膨胀预期是个好兆头。
Second, we anticipate highly captive customers to continue to provide growth opportunities and incremental revenues as legacy conservancy and property charges contractually reset to market rates. Further, we have several large-scale expansions underway including expected new volumes from the development of the world’s largest polyhalite mine and an almost twofold increase in our container terminal capacity.
其次，我们预计，随着历史遗留的养护费率和物业费率按合同重新调整为市场价格，老客户将继续提供增长机会和增量收入。此外，我们还有几项大规模的扩张正在进行中，包括世界上最大的聚盐矿的开发，以及集装箱码头吞吐量几乎翻倍的增长。
Finally, the Tees Valley is recognized as a renewable energy hub and has received “Core Status” as a Centre of Renewable Engineering from the U.K. government. This status contributed to GE Renewable electing to bring its wind blade manufacturing plant to Teesport, with the resulting contract expected to be the first of many for the business.
最后，蒂斯谷被公认为可再生能源中心，并获得了英国政府作为可再生能源工程中心的“核心地位”。这种状况促使GE可再生能源选择将其风力叶片制造厂带到蒂斯港，由此产生的合同预计将是该业务的第一份合同。
These highly visible growth opportunities should contribute to doubling EBITDA over the next five years, and if things go well could triple results by 2030. We look forward to providing future updates as the business executes on its growth strategy.
这些明显的增长机会应有助于在未来五年使息税折旧摊销前利润翻一番，如果进展顺利，到2030年可使业绩翻三倍。我们期待在业务执行其增长战略时提供未来的更新。
【G&W铁路】
G&W is a large-scale rail operation with 113 short line railroads in North America (with three additional railroads in Europe) and 22,000 kilometers of track that forms a key component of the North American rail network. G&W generates resilient cash flows as a provider of critical last mile transport services to industrial customers and Class I rail operators.
G&W是一家大型铁路运营公司，在北美拥有113条短线铁路(在欧洲还有三条铁路)和22000公里的轨道，是北美铁路网的关键组成部分。作为工业客户和一级铁路运营商的关键最后一英里运输服务提供商，G&W产生了具有韧性的现金流。
We have seen carloads for our core North America business increase 20% relative to the prior year and back in line with the same period of 2019. The rebound in rail volumes has helped G&W achieve strong revenue and EBITDA growth compared to 2020, with the company's operating efficiency metrics reaching record levels.
我们发现，核心北美业务的运量同比增长了20%，与2019年同期持平。与2020年相比，铁路运量的反弹帮助G&W实现了强劲的营收和息税折旧摊销前利润增长，公司的运营效率指标达到创纪录水平。
The critical first and last mile rail services, which connect Class I railroads to their end destinations, affords G&W the opportunity to strategically participate in industrial growth through two ways (in addition to capturing overall market growth); (i) customer-oriented organic growth projects; and (ii) accretive follow-on investment opportunities.
关键的第一英里和最后一英里铁路服务，连接了一类铁路和最终目的地，使G&W有机会通过两种方式战略性地参与工业增长(除了抓住整体市场增长)：
(i)以顾客为本的有机增长项目;
(ii)增加后续投资机会。
Organic growth projects - One example of a growth initiative is the recent agreement with the Georgia Ports Authority to expand our rail services at the Port of Savannah. G&W will provide safe, reliable, and efficient rail services for the Port Authority’s new Mason Mega Rail Terminal. This is significant as annual rail container capacity at the port, which already has the country’s largest and fastest-growing container terminal, is expected to double with the completion of the project later this year. Other recent successful growth projects include the acquisition and planned expansion of a transload facility in California to accommodate agriculture and biofuel growth, and the development of a vehicle distribution facility in the Midwest for a major U.S. automaker.
有机增长项目 -增长措施的一个例子是最近与乔治亚港口管理局达成协议，扩大我们在萨凡纳港的铁路服务。G&W将为港务局的新梅森超级铁路码头提供安全、可靠和高效的铁路服务。这一点意义重大，因为随着该项目在今年晚些时候竣工，该港口的铁路集装箱年吞吐量预计将翻一番。该港口已拥有该国规模最大、增长最快的集装箱码头。
近期其他成功的增长项目包括收购并计划扩建加利福尼亚的一个转运设施，以适应农业和生物燃料的增长，以及为美国一家大型汽车制造商在中西部开发一个汽车分销设施。
Follow-on opportunities - G&W is also well positioned to (i) acquire and drive value to existing short-line railroads and terminals and (ii) benefit from consolidation and M&A activity in the U.S. rail sector.
后续的机会 - G&W在以下方面也处于有利地位:
(i)收购现有的短线铁路和集散中心并为其带来价值;
(ii)从美国铁路行业的整合和并购活动中受益。
When Class I railroads either combine or acquire smaller networks, competition or operational considerations may create opportunities for G&W to participate, given its expansive network and reputation as an independent, reliable, and safe operator. For example, when CSX announced the acquisition of PanAm Rail in 2020, there were both ownership and operational complexities that created the opportunity for G&W to become the operator of the PanAm Southern, a critical rail connection into the Boston area, after successful completion of the transaction. Current merger activity in the sector could unlock additional opportunities.
当一类铁路公司合并或收购较小的网络时，鉴于G&W庞大的网络和作为独立、可靠和安全运营商的声誉，竞争或运营方面的考虑可能会为其参与创造机会。例如，当CSX公司在2020年宣布收购泛美铁路时，所有权和运营的复杂性为G&W公司创造了机会，在成功完成交易后成为泛美南部铁路的运营商，这是通往波士顿地区的一个关键铁路连接。该行业目前的并购活动可能会释放更多的机会。
【Trapac集装箱码头】
Similarly, our Trapac operation, located in the ports of Los Angeles and Oakland, operates container terminals in the largest and ninth largest ports in North America, respectively. These deep-water ports are near-irreplaceable and provide critical infrastructure for the import and export of goods into/from the United States.
同样，我们的Trapac业务位于洛杉矶和奥克兰港口，分别在北美最大和第九大港口运营集装箱码头。这些深水港几乎是不可替代的，为进出美国的货物进出口提供了关键的基础设施。
We invested in TraPac in 2014 and introduced automation at the Los Angeles terminal early in our ownership. We have developed one of the most environmentally friendly and lowest cost terminals in North America. TraPac therefore has a significant competitive advantage, is better able to weather various market conditions, and will capture higher margins as economic activity accelerates.
2014年，我们投资了TraPac，并在洛杉矶码头引入了自动化。我们开发了北美最环保、成本最低的码头之一。因此，TraPac拥有显著的竞争优势，能够更好地应对各种市场状况，并将在经济活动加速时获得更高的利润率。
Driven by robust customer demand, volumes on a year-to-date basis are up 24% and 13% in Los Angeles and Oakland, respectively. We expect this trend to continue as container traffic continues to grow in the U.S.’s largest coastal import/export locations. Over the last few months, each of the major shipping alliances has contacted TraPac to inquire about available capacity, noting our strong reputation for reliable service.
在强劲的客户需求推动下，今年以来洛杉矶和奥克兰的销量分别增长了24%和13%。我们预计，随着集装箱运输在美国最大的沿海进出口地点继续增长，这一趋势将持续下去。在过去的几个月里，每个主要的航运联盟都联系TraPac询问可用的运力，并指出我们在可靠的服务方面享有良好的声誉。
Industry-leading turnaround times position TraPac as the terminal-of-choice for express services that offer faster transit times between Asia and North America. As e-commerce penetration expands, and retailers demand shorter lead-times, TraPac is uniquely positioned to capture more express services, increasing its volumes and driving market share.
业内领先的周转时间使TraPac成为亚洲和北美之间提供更快过境时间的快递服务的码头选择。随着电子商务普及的扩大，零售商要求缩短交货时间，TraPac在获取更多快递服务、增加其数量和提高市场份额方面处于独特地位。