DP World posts 9% growth in first nine months

The company attributed the majority of the improvement to the Asia Pacific and Indian Sub-continent region, which handled 20.9m teu in the first nine months, a 10.3% growth over the 18.9m teu in the previous year.

Meanwhile, newly-opened London Gateway contributed to the 10.6% nine-month growth recorded in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region – to 18.6m teu from 16.7m teu in 2013.

However, the big player in this region was the UAE, which handled 11.4m teu, a 12.6% increase.

“Our flagship Jebel Ali port achieved yet another new record, with 4.0m teu handled in the third quarter,” said DP World chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem. “The port is operating at almost maximum utilisation and we are therefore pleased to announce that Terminal 3 is now operational, adding 2m teu capacity.

“A further 2m teu is expected to come online in the second half of 2015, taking total Jebel Ali capacity to 19m teu. This is part of our commitment to invest to meet future capacity demands in Dubai.”

However, despite new capacity coming online at Embraport in Brazil, the Americas and Australia region's volumes contracted by 1.4%.

Sulayem commented: “Volume growth for the first nine months of 2014 has been impressive, and we remain encouraged by the third quarter performance which has grown 8.4% year-on-year on a like-for-like basis. It is evident that the significant investment of recent years is aiding in the delivery of stronger volume growth.

“The solid nine-month performance leaves us well placed to outperform the market, which is forecast to grow at approximately 5% in 2014.”

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