Dubai: DP World reported on Tuesday a 13.5 per cent year-on-year increase in volumes it handled during the third quarter of 2017 supported by “recovery of global trade.”
In a statement, the Dubai-based ports operator said it handled around 18.3 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) across its global portfolio of terminals in the third quarter of the year. This brings volumes in the first nine months of 2017 to nearly 52.3 million TEUs — up 10 per cent over the same period in 2016.
DP World said that global trade outlook “improved significantly in 2017, with the World Trade Organisation recently upgrading trade growth to 3.6 per cent from 2.4 per cent in 2017. The company said it saw improved growth rates in the third quarter in all three regions where it operates — Asia Pacific and India subcontinent; Europe, Middle East, and Africa; and Americas and Australia.
Sultan Bin Sulayem, group chairman and chief executive officer of DP World, said the growth in the third quarter came despite “uncertainty in the region.”
“We expect our portfolio’s volume growth to continue to outperform the market, and given the encouraging performance so far, we remain well-placed to meet full-year 2017 market expectations,” he said.
Bin Sulayem added that the recovery of global trade in 2017 has outperformed earlier expectations.
“Benefiting from the improved trading environment and market share gains form the new shipping alliances, our global portfolio continues to deliver ahead-of-market-growth, and this is across all three regions,” he said in a statement.
In the first nine months of this year, DP World-operated ports in the UAE handled 11.6 million TEUs, up 4.6 per cent year-on-year. The company added 1.5 million TEUs of new capacity in Jebel Ali port in the third quarter, and 0.5 million TEUs in Canada’s Prince Rupert port.
DP World said it is still seeking growth opportunities in Latin America, Africa, and the Indian subcontinent where there is “significant structural growth potential.”
