Dubai: Dubai’s port and free zone operator DP World saw a 2 per cent gain in container volumes across its global network in the first nine months, handling 59.6 million TEUs. In the July to end September period, the volumes came to 20.1 million TEU, up 1.5 per cent year-on-year.
A ‘strong performance’ was reported at the company’s operation in Qingdao (China), ATI in the Philippines, LCIT (Thailand) and Jeddah. Jebel Ali port handled 3.5 million TEUs in the third quarter 2022, a gain of 2 per cent.
“The near-term outlook remains uncertain given the geopolitical environment, inflationary pressures and currency fluctuations - but we remain positive on the medium to long term outlook for global trade,” said Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO. “Overall, given the solid nine-month volume performance, we expect to deliver an improved set of full-year results.
As expected, growth rates have decelerated due to the more challenging market conditions, but global trade continues to remain resilient, and our portfolio is expected to continue to outperform the market.
Full set of challenges
Into the final crucial weeks of the year, the global shipping and supply chain industry sure have challenges, notably to deal with lowered demand in key regions as inflation bites into consumer and business demand. Thankfully, non-availability of containers to ship in and out is no longer much of an issue for operators.
At DP World, "Growth in the third quarter was primarily driven by a solid performance across our Asia-Pacific, Americas and Australia terminals. Encouragingly, our flagship port of Jebel Ali continues to deliver robust volumes with growth of 2 per cent year-on-year," said Bin Sulayem. (DP World recently launched coastline services within the UAE speeding up shipments from Jebel Ali port to other ports in-country.)
On a Q3-2022 consolidated level, the Dubai entity handled 11.7 million TEU, increasing 2.7% on a reported basis and 1.5% year-on-year on a like-for-like basis.
