DP World posts 17.1% growth in Q2

Dubai - Jebel Ali handled 3.4 million TEU in Q2 2021, up 4.2 per cent year-on-year.

Global ports operator DP World Limited reported on Wednesday that its gross container volumes increased by 17.6 per cent year-on-year “on a reported basis and 17.1 per cent on a like-for-like basis” in the second quarter of 2021.

The company said it handled 19.7 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) across its portfolio of container terminals across the world in the quarter.

“Growth in Q2 2021 accelerated with all regions delivering a strong performance, especially our terminals in India, Europe, Australia and Americas. Jebel Ali handled 3.4 million TEU in Q2 2021, up 4.2 per cent year-on-year. On a H1 2021 gross basis, DP World handled 38.6 million TEU, with gross container volumes increasing by 13.9 per cent year-on-year on a reported basis and 13.3 per cent on a like-for-like basis,” DP World said in a statement.

At a consolidated level, DP World’s terminals handled 11.4 million TEU in Q2 2021, increasing 18.2 per cent on a reported basis and up 17.3 per cent on a like for like basis.

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, group chairman and chief executive officer of DP World, said growth continued to be broad based with all regions delivering a robust performance, with India being exceptionally strong. “Encouragingly, the recent volume improvement at our flagship port of Jebel Ali (UAE) continued into 2Q2021 with throughput growth accelerating to 4.2 per cent year-on-year.”

Sulayem said the near-term outlook remains positive, but expects growth rates to moderate in the second half of 2021. “We remain mindful that the Covid-19 pandemic and geopolitical uncertainty could once-again disrupt the global economic recovery. Overall, we continue to make good progress on our strategy to deliver supply chain solutions to beneficial cargo owners and are focused on growing profitability while managing growth capex. The strong start to 2021 leaves us well placed to deliver an improved full year performance and we remain focused on delivering our 2022 targets,” he said.

—issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com