Court blocks top Africa port deal as Maersk contests award

A South African court temporarily blocked a deal between the nation’s state-owned logistics firm and a company owned by Filipino billionaire Enrique Razon to expand and run sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest container port after AP Moller-Maersk challenged the award. Maersk unit APM Terminals was among the unsuccessful bidders in a tender run last year by South Africa’s state-owned Transnet to sell almost half of the main terminal in the southeastern city of Durban and operate it for 25 years. The Copenhagen-based company argued in court papers that the preferred candidate, International Container Terminal Services, didn’t meet a stipulated solvency measure.