Volume growth in Europe and the Middle East led a 4.2% global rise in container handling in the first half to 30.6million TEUs at DP World.
Europe, Middle East and Africa’s 12.9m teu gross volumes represent a 6.9% like for like growth, with Asia Pacific and the Indian Subcontinent growing 2.8% to 14.1million TEUs.
The Americas and Australia suffered a small decline of 0.1%, which the company attributes to soft economic conditions. Accounting for new capacity, the first half result is a 4.1% increase in volumes globally.
“I am pleased to report that we have made good progress with our new developments, with Rotterdam (Netherlands) and Nhava Sheva (India) now operational whilst Yarimca (Turkey) is on track for launch in the fourth quarter of 2015,” commented chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem. “Additionally, the proposed acquisition of Fairview Terminal in Canada is expected to close in the second half of this year, which will enhance our Americas portfolio.”
On top of current plans to add 2m teu of capacity at Jebel Ali’s Terminal 3, DP World is planning to further expand its flagship port to 22.1million TEU capacity. “Despite the new capacity additions, Jebel Ali continues to operate at high levels of utilisation and given the strong domestic and regional growth outlook including the lead up to Expo 2020 , we are delighted to announce construction of Terminal 4, which will deliver phase one new capacity of 3.1million TEUs by 2018.”
DP World’s $1.6bn investment in Terminal 4, on which land reclamation work has already begun, will “significantly” increase Jebel Ali’s ability to simultaneously handle megaships from the current maximum of 10.
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