Dubai’s port and terminal operator DP World closed the first quarter of this year with 15.5 million TEUs handled across its global portfolio of container terminals, with gross container volumes growing by 3.7% on a reported basis.
The growth in Q1 was driven by a stronger performance from DP World’s European and Indian subcontinent terminals, as explained by DP World Chairman, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem.
Conditions in Latin America are said to be challenging while the United Arab Emirates handled 3.6 million TEU, with a decrease of 5.9 percent.
“At a consolidated level, our terminals handled 7.2 million TEU during the first quarter of 2016, a 2.3% improvement in performance on a reported basis and down 0.4% year-on-year on a like-for-like basis,” Bin Sulayem notes.
“Our new developments in Rotterdam (Netherlands), Nhava Sheva (India) and Yarimca (Turkey) are now operational and are expected to deliver an increasing contribution in the second half of 2016. The additional 2 million TEU of capacity at Jebel Ali (UAE) and 1 million TEU of capacity in London Gateway (UK) are on course to be delivered in mid-2016, which will offer further room for growth,” Bin Suleyman adds.
The company believes it is well positioned to grow volumes ahead of the market, and that the encouraging start to the year will continue so it can meet full year market expectations.