Yemen to terminate Aden port deal with DP World

Yemen's Aden port authority on Sunday asked the country's government to terminate a deal with DP World because the Dubai-government owned port operator had "badly mismanaged" Aden container port, Yemeni officials said. "The board of Gulf of Aden Ports Corp raised an official report to the power-sharing government on Sunday, asking it to terminate the deal with DP World after fact-finding investigations showed that DP World had badly mismanaged Aden container and failed to comply with the deal," a transport ministry official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The move came one day after a board meeting of the Aden port Corp, an affiliate with the Transport Ministry which is the Yemeni official side in the management-sharing deal with DP World, decided unanimously to take legal action to cancel the agreement. "The decision was the first step ... as there was strong determination for the government to take all official measures to cancel the contract with the Dubai-based port operator as soon as possible," the official said. On its website, the transport ministry said in a brief statement that "the decision of cancelling the agreement with the Dubai-based port operator was strongly supported by Transport Minister Waed Bathib, who has been leading efforts to end the deal after the deterioration of Aden's port activities." The deal was signed in 2008 between the Yemeni government and the world's third largest port operator. In June, 2012, the Yemen's anti-corruption body asked the government to revoke the deal with DP World over official reports that the company had failed to meet its obligations in running Aden container port and providing infrastructure on time. A month later, the government formed a committee headed by transport minister Bathib to start a probe into the status of the Aden port's management. Yemeni officials said Aden port's activities and services have deteriorated since the UAE operator took over the port's management.