A continued upswing in global trade saw DP World reporting 4.8% growth in gross container volumes to 35.6 million TEU across its global portfolio of container terminals in the first half of 2018.
All three of the global container terminal operating group’s main regions delivered growth, led by terminals in Europe and Australia, DP World said in a press release. Volumes in the Americas and Australia reporting segment rose 5.2% to 4.4 million TEU while in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) volumes rose 5.0% but off a much higher base to 15 million TEU. At its home base terminals in the UAE the group’s first half volumes were almost flat at 7.7 million TEU.
Meanwhile, volumes in the Asia Pacific and Indian subcontinent region grew 4.5% to 16.2 million TEU.
Group chairman/CEOSultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said, “Our portfolio has delivered an encouraging performance in the first half of 2018 with all regions continuing to deliver growth. However, as expected there has been a deceleration in the growth rate in 2Q2018 due the tougher year-on-year comparables, where 2Q2017 grew 10.7% year-on-year driven by market share gains from the new shipping alliances.”
He added, “Nevertheless, the robust performance across all regions continues to be an affirmation of our strategy to deploy relevant capacity in key markets and operate a diversified portfolio. We are pleased to see our terminals in Europe and Australia continue to deliver growth and still expect to see increased contributions from our new investments in the second half of the year.”
Alluding to the looming trade war however, Sultan Ahmed noted, “Whilst geopolitical headwinds and recent changes in trade policies continue to pose uncertainty to the container market, first half volume performance demonstrates that our portfolio is well positioned to deliver growth.”