Gulftainer promotes Richards in US role

Richards is replaced as Gulftainer ceo by Flemming Dalgaard, who joined the company last year as ceo international operations, and whose career has also seen stints at DP World and Maersk Line.

“In his 30-year career with the company, Peter Richards has spearheaded efforts to [transform Gulftainer] from a… UAE company into an international player in the global port operations business," said Badr Jafar, chairman of Gulftainer’s executive board, and ceo of Crescent Enterprises.

“ThebBoard has great confidence in his abilities to further accelerate our growth within the US market.”

Richards oversaw the start of GT USA’s operations at Port Canaveral, Florida, last year, making Gulftainer the first Arab company to enter the US ports market, after its UAE rival, DP World, failed in its 2006 bid to take over the US assets that came with its acquisition of P&O.

Gulftainer said Dalgaard's role would be to oversee strategic global growth from a current annual throughput of 6.5m teu at its ports in the UAE, Iraq, Brazil, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the US.

Gulftainer claims to have recorded average year-on-year growth of 12% over the past decade, compared to average annual global market growth of 8.6% over the same period.