DP world volumes jump 7.5%

Global marine container terminal operator DP World said it handled 28.2 million twenty foot equivalent units, or TEU, in the first half of 2012 — up 7.5 per cent — across its global portfolio of over 60 terminals. The world’s third largest port operator said the Asia-Pacific and Indian Sub-continent region was the main driver of this growth, reporting a 12.1 per cent increase in volumes to 13.3 million TEU. “This strong performance was driven by growth across our terminals in Asia Pacific as well as new capacity across the region as a whole,” the container operator said. The Americas and Australia region grew volumes by 6.1 per cent to 3.3 million TEU as solid growth in the Americas mitigated a more challenging environment in Australia The Europe, Middle East and Africa region grew 3.2 per cent to 11.6 million TEU. “Weaker trade across Europe masked the stronger performance across the rest of the region including in Jebel Ali, the UAE which handled 6.6 million TEU in the first six months of the year, 7.3 per cent ahead of the same period last year,” the company said. Container handling generates around 80 per cent of DP World’s revenue. In addition, the company currently has 11 new developments and major expansions underway in 10 countries. Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, group chairman of DP World, said the operator has continued to deliver a robust performance in the first six months of this year. “This reflects the benefits of managing a superior global portfolio which is strategically diversified across emerging markets and focused on handling core import and export cargo,” he said. DP World group chief executive Mohammed Sharaf said the number of containers handled across its portfolio of global ports has increased again, with 28.2 million containers handled in the first six months of the year. With a gross volume growth of 7.5 per cent, DP World continues to deliver growth ahead of the industry, he said. “The global macroeconomic uncertainty seen in the first quarter of the year has continued, and if anything, has increased through the second quarter,” Sharaf said. “We are not seeing double-digit numbers as we saw earlier. There is some impact [of the global uncertainty] in terms of growth... but we continue to grow at a rate faster than the industry,” chief financial officer Yuvraj Narayan said in a conference call.