Terminals in Asia, Australia and parts of Europe drove the volume growth across DP World’s portfolio, the world’s fourth-largest marine terminal operator said in an e-mailed statement.
In the first half, DP World handled 23.7 million 20-foot equivalent container units, or TEUs, up from 20.4 million TEUs in the first half of 2009. Also last year, it handled a total of 43.4 million TEUs at the ports spread across 31 countries.
DP World’s terminals in the UAE handled 5.5 million TEUs in the first half of 2010, up slightly compared to 5.4 million TEUs in the same 2009 period.
“The first half was unprecedented,” said DP World Chief Executive Officer Mohammed Sharaf in a conference call with reporters on Tuesday.
The port operator said the encouraging start to the year in the UAE region has continued into the second quarter, with volumes of 5.5 million TEUs handled in the first six months, three per cent ahead of the same period last year.
“We have continued to invest new capacity in line with market demand and our development in Callao, Peru opened towards the end of the second quarter of the year with Vallarpadam, India and Karachi, Pakistan both scheduled to open later this year,” the statement said.
Sharaf said the return to container volume growth in the first quarter of this year has continued strongly through the second quarter, delivering a better than expected performance for the first half of 2010, particularly for DP World’s joint venture and associate terminals.
He sounded cautiously optimistic about the growth in the second half amid forecasts that global container shipping volumes are expected to rise only six to eight per cent by the end of this year despite companies in the industry showing double-digit growth in the first quarter “We’re taking a cautious position on whether the growth we have seen will grow further,” he said.
Sharaf said first-half volumes, along with the continuation of cost management would lead to an improvement in first-half profit after tax against the same period last year despite the weaker contribution from non-container revenue.
“While uncertainty remains over the sustainability of trade volumes reported in the first half of the year we currently expect to deliver full year results in line with expectations,” he said.
According to cargo experts, trans-Pacific routes and those between Europe and Asia are likely to slow the most while intra-Asia services remain stable even as container shipping seems to be coming back after a tough 2009.
Shipping consultants Drewry Maritime said container volumes have risen some 40 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2010. “Going forward, there are still risks like Europe’s debt crisis and unemployment in the US, which may affect consumption,” they said.
Katharine Cheong-Koh, director of Research at Island Shipbrokers, said global container volumes are expected to grow six to seven per cent across the board by the end of the year with supply of shipping capacity hitting seven to eight per cent, leaving the sector with still more fat to work off.
issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com
Still committed to LSE listing
DUBAI — DP World said on Tuesday it remains committed to listing some of its shares on the London Stock Exchange, or LSE, after postponing its plans in June.
“There’s no chance of dropping the listing in London. The board has committed that we will be listed in London, the reason we could not do it is because of some necessary paperwork that we had not completed,” DP World Chief Executive Officer Mohammed Sharaf said during a conference call.
DP World, which is already listed on the Nasdaq Dubai stock exchange, said in late June that plans for a London listing had been delayed caused by the need to find “an acceptable system that supports the dual listing.”
DP World expects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, or Ebitda, to reach $ 1.2 billion this year, Sharaf said. DP World’s Ebitda figure for 2009 was $ 1.072 billion.
