Monday, February 8, 2016

Container Freight Terminal Group Posts TEU Growth in 2015

New CEO Announces Port Handing Figures
Shipping News Feature
DUBAI – WORLDWIDE – Just a few weeks since the departure of long term CEO Mohammed Sharaf, DP World has both installed Group Chairman His Excellency Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem to the dual role, and announced it handled 61.7 million TEU during 2015, gross container volumes growing by 3.0% on reported basis and 2.4% on a like-for-like basis. The rise in twenty foot equivalent freight units was spurred mainly by increased throughput in Europe and the UAE, with the UK’s latest deep water port at London Gateway playing its part.

The UAE handled a record 15.6 million TEU’s, representing like-for-like growth of 2.3% for the year with utilisation at Jebel Ali remaining high at approximately 90%, despite the softer volumes in Q4 2015. Market conditions in the second half of 2015 were challenging, with like-for-like gross throughput growth flat year-on-year in Q4 2015. DP World Group Chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem commented:

“At a consolidated level, our terminals handled 29.1 million TEU during 2015, a 2.7% improvement on a reported basis. Consolidated like-for-like volumes grew by 1.7% for the year. The second half of 2015 was difficult for global trade operators, as various economic headwinds including currency weakness and lower commodity prices adversely impacted trade growth. Against this challenging backdrop, all our three regions continued to deliver full year volume growth on a like-for-like basis which demonstrates the strength of our portfolio.

“Despite the uncertain near-term macro environment, and given the high utilisation at our portfolio, we remain confident about the medium to long-term outlook of our industry and continue to invest to meet the future capacity requirements of our customers. As we look ahead into 2016, we look forward to the new capacity at Rotterdam (Netherlands), Mumbai (India), Prince Rupert (Canada) and Yarimca (Turkey) to deliver a full year contribution to our throughput.

“We expect to open our third berth at London Gateway (UK) in mid-2016, adding 600k TEU of new capacity. The additional 2 million TEU at terminal three (T3) Jebel Ali (UAE) will now be operational in the second half of 2016. DP World has once again delivered ahead of market throughput growth in 2015 and given this resilient performance, we remain confident of meeting full year market expectations. While trading conditions in 2016 are expected to remain challenging, we believe a portfolio focused towards faster growing markets and origin and destination cargo, coupled with the addition of new capacity can continue to outperform the market.”

Photo: Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem.