APM Terminals’ nearly 4-year-old lease agreement at Portsmouth, Virginia is projected to cost the Port Authority more than $70 million a year by the time the deal ends in 2030 – more than $1 billion total.
On Thursday, after naming five new Port Authority board members, he told The Pilot that APM wants to sell its terminal to the authority and that talks on a potential deal are about to get under way.
“They actually came to us recently and wanted us to buy it back from them,” said McAuliffe. “I don’t want to get into the number, but the number was ridiculous, not even in the ballpark.”
Asked if APM asked for a price of more than $600 million, McAuliffe said yes.
“It was so unreasonable and unacceptable, we rejected it immediately,” he said.
Nevertheless, he said he has instructed Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne to begin negotiations.