Business | Shipping
DP World posts 18% increase in container volume
Port operator DP World on Monday reported about an 18 per cent increase in the volume of containers handled at its 42 terminals in 22 countries last year.
- By Shakir Husain, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:54 January 22, 2008
Dubai: Port operator DP World on Monday reported about an 18 per cent increase in the volume of containers handled at its 42 terminals in 22 countries last year.
The company said throughput was 43.3 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent container units) in 2007 compared with 36.8 million TEUs in 2006.
DP World's UAE facilities, including the flagship Jebel Ali port, generated almost one fourth of last year's volume.
Year-on-year growth in the Middle East, Europe and Africa was 19 per cent.
Of the 11 million TEUs recorded in the UAE, Jebel Ali and Port Rashid accounted for 10.7 million.
DP World is expected to shift all cargo operations at Port Rashid to Jebel Ali later this year to make way for a government plan to redevelop the area.
Container traffic at Jebel Ali, the region's largest port facility, grew more than 25 per cent to 9.9 million TEUs last year, DP World said, attributing the increase to the opening of a new second terminal in the second half of 2007.
The Asia Pacific and Indian Subcontinent region recorded a 17 per cent increase. The terminals in the Americas and Australia region grew 18 per cent.
Mohammad Sharaf, DP World's chief executive officer, said in a statement the company's growth is ahead of global container trade growth estimated at 10.8 per cent a year.
Portfolio
"Our portfolio is well balanced and designed to meet the needs of our customers and of world trade today and tomorrow," he said.
DP World shares yesterday closed at $1.02, down 5.5 per cent. The stock has lost 28 cents, or about 21 per cent, since it began trading on November 26 on the Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX).
The company sold 23 per cent shares for $4.96 billion last year in the region's biggest initial public offering (IPO).
Last year DP World announced terminal development projects in Rotterdam and at London Gateway and signed a deal to operate the port at Dakar in Senegal. It also acquired the Sokhna Port in Egypt, taking the number of its operating terminals to 43.
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