Moody's: Port of Oakland A1 Rating Maintained
Port as primary gateway for Northern California region a key credit strength.
Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (Moody’s) has maintained the Port of Oakland's senior lien rating at A1 stable. The A1 stable senior bond rating reflects the Port’s strong liquidity, healthy debt service coverage ratio, manageable capital spending and significant long-term debt capacity.
“The rating reflects the Port’s commitment to fiscal responsibility,” said Port of Oakland Chief Financial Officer Julie Lam. “The credit strengths cited by Moody’s highlights our unique revenue diversity and critical role in the Northern California economy.”
Moody’s cited several key strengths supporting the Port’s credit rating:
- Diverse and economically stable service areas that bolster demand for cargo and travel;
- The Oakland Seaport’s role as the primary gateway for Northern California, benefitting from a favorable trade balance and limited exposure to discretionary cargo;
- Mitigation of single-sector exposure for bondholders through diversified revenues from airport, seaport, commercial real estate, and utilities businesses; and
- Substantial debt capacity to support capital investments.
“Sluggish post-pandemic maritime and aircraft volumes represent a modest credit headwind, but strong cost recovery in both enterprises will support future revenue stability,” states Moody’s. “While seaport volume has not grown as much as the broader sector over the last two years, throughput remains relatively stable and seaport revenues are growing. Airport activity is recovering well and should continue to normalize in line with the broader sector.”
Moody’s indicated that key challenges include potentially new debt for an airport capital project, a planned reduction of cash over the next five years, and relative weakness in container volume. However, Moody’s indicates that the Port is well positioned to manage these challenges.
Moody’s stated that in their view, the Port’s ability to manage or mitigate throughput volatility, along with its strong financial profile, positions the Port well to “maintain stable credit metrics going forward, and to withstand unexpected economic or other pressures that may arise.”