Bin Sulayem, speaking at the company's AGM in Dubai, said “operating conditions in the first quarter of 2013 have remained challenging and have been broadly similar to those experienced in the fourth quarter of last year.”
The 12.8m teu handled in the first quarter was 7% lower than the same period last year, but when adjusted for the divestments and monetisation across its portfolio, the decline was 3.5% on a like-for-like basis, he explained.
The chairman attributed the decline in gross container volume to lower volumes in Asia Pacific, Indian subcontinent and the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions.
“In Asia Pacific and the Indian subcontinent we continue to focus on handling a smaller number of higher margin containers. In the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, our European and Middle East businesses in particular continue to operate in a challenging macro environment,” he said.
DP World's UAE facilities handled 3.1m teu. These volume declines were mitigated by a better performance from our terminals in the Americas and Australia region.
“DP World’s portfolio of consolidated terminals handled 6.2m teu during the first quarter of 2013, a decline of 6.4% when compared with the same period last year. On a like-for-like basis, consolidated volumes declined 5.1%,” he added.
Bin Sulayem remained buoyant, though, promising to develop new capacity by year-end. He said despite subdued markets at the start of 2013, and notwithstanding the challenging macroeconomic conditions; “we still expect like-for-like container throughput in line with 2012, with our portfolio focused on the faster-growing emerging markets and more stable origin and destination cargo.”
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