Bangkok Shipowners and Agent Association

Bangkok Shipowners and Agents Association
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Home News World Shipping News UAE spurs DP World to record 55 million TEU
UAE spurs DP World to record 55 million TEU PDF Print E-mail
Thursday, 02 February 2012 09:30
CI Online 1/2/12
                                        
A jump in traffic at DP World's flagship port, Jebel Ali, helped propel the globe's third largest operator of container terminals to handle almost 55 million TEU in 2011. The 10.3% rise in total traffic was well ahead of the 6%-7% rate of growth being forecast by most analysts/economists for last year.

'Our flagship terminal in the UAE has yet again exceeded all expectations delivering another record year as it continues to position itself as the gateway port of choice to handle cargo destined for the Middle East, India and Africa regions,' said Chairman, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem.

In fact cargo handled at Jebel Ali strengthened as the year elapsed, with a 16% hike in volumes experienced in Q4 11. For the year as a whole the Middle East region's largest box port handled 13 million TEU, up 12% on the previous year.

Elsewhere, the Asia Pacific region generated 24.7 million TEU of the total and was up just over 12% on 2010's performance. This was partly influenced by the company's expansion plans at Karachi., Pakistan, and Vallarpadam, India.
DP World's smaller Americas and Australia division posted growth of 13.8% to 6.6 million TEU.

The strong performance in Q4 11 led Bin Sulayem to say that the group would achieve earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for 2011 that were in line with expectations.
The chairman also expects lower then expected financing charges to boost profits at the pre-tax level.

While Bin Sulayem and ceo Mohammed Sharaf, both expressed some concerns about current trading conditions, both were confident about the future.
Sharaf elaborated: 'Whilst this uncertainty remains as we enter 2012, we continue to concentrate on delivering an improved operational and financial performance over 2011 reflecting our focus on both faster growing emerging markets and delivering an enhanced offering to our customers.
'As we look ahead, we continue to remain confident about the long term outlook for our industry. We believe our continued investment in existing and new terminals around the world will ensure our portfolio is best positioned to meet the expectations of our customers and their future requirements.'

DP World operates more than 60 terminals worldwide with container-handling accounting for approximately 80% of its revenue. Its consolidated portfolio of terminals, handled 27.5 million TEU in 2011 compared with 27.8 million TEU in 2010. This decline was attributable to the deconsolidation of five terminals in Australia. Excluding this and the rise would have been about 9%.