Dubai: Dubai’s DP World recorded a 3.1 per cent gain in container volumes between July and end September, showing evidence that global trade shipments was finally starting to inch up after the COVID-19 attack.
“The recovery in volumes was broad-based with quarter-on-quarter throughput increasing by almost 10 per cent as world economies began to ease lockdown restrictions,” said Sultan Bin Sulayem, Chairman and CEO. "Overall, while we are encouraged by the recent volume trends, the outlook remains uncertain given the possibility of new lockdowns due to COVID-19 second wave, geopolitical uncertainty with US elections and lack of progress made on trade wars."
On a nine-month basis, DP World handled 52.2 million TEU, a decline of 2.5 per cent.
“India, which witnessed a sharp slowdown in Q2-2020, saw a significant volume improvement versus the second quarter, while Jebel Ali delivered 3.4 per cent growth against the previous quarter. During this challenging period, we have focused on maintaining efficient supply chains to sustain the delivery of critical and essential cargo.
This performance is ahead of expectations and once again illustrates the resilience of the global container industry - and DP World’s continued ability to outperform the market. Our strategy to provide solutions to cargo owners has served us well, and our aim is to continue to build on this momentum."
The nine-month solid volume performance leaves us well placed to deliver a relatively stable financial performance in 2020... and we remain confident of meeting our 2022 targets.