Business | Shipping
Deadlock continues on Aden port takeover
The deadlock over DP World's agreement with Yemen to manage the port of Aden continues and there have been no official talks on the subject more than a month after Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh told government officials to renegotiate certain parts of the deal.
- By Shakir Husain, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 July 10, 2006
Dubai: The deadlock over DP World's agreement with Yemen to manage the port of Aden continues and there have been no official talks on the subject more than a month after Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh told government officials to renegotiate certain parts of the deal.
DP World won an international tender last year to operate the port of Aden under a 30-year concession. It has pledged to invest $493 million to expand and upgrade port facilities.
Yemen's deputy transport minister Mohammad Salem told Gulf News there have been no talks with DP World since Saleh's instructions for new negotiations.
"The whole project is still under consideration," the minister said.
Yemen has so far not disclosed what points of the agreement it wants to renegotiate.
DP World chairman Sultan Ahmad Bin Sulayem said recently the company was ready for further talks with Yemen.
The Yemeni government started looking for a new operator for Aden Container Terminal to replace Singapore's PSA International, which pulled out from a joint venture that managed the port in November 2003.
At present the Aden port is operating at half of its capacity of 620,000 TEUs.
The Dubai firm plans to expand the capacity to three million TEUs and promote the area as a free zone.
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