August 3, 2020: Over the first half of the year DP World handled a total of 33.9 million teu across its global portfolio of container terminals. Due to current circumstances total container volumes fell 3.9% on a like-for-like basis.
Its flagship port at Jebel Ali in the UAE handled 6.7 million teu in the first half of the year. This was down 6.8% year-on-year and is attributed to the effects of Covid-19 and a continued loss of lower-margin cargo.
While the results are a setback, put in an industry context DP World performed relatively well. Its figures compare favourably with a global container terminal industry decline of around 10% in the first half of the year.
DP World Chairman, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, says, “This outperformance once again demonstrates that we are in the right locations and a focus on origin and destination cargo will continue to deliver the right balance between growth and resilience. Also, we are very proud to state that during this difficult period, DP World’s ports across the world remained operational and we aim to continue to provide this access to our clients to ensure essential and critical cargo keeps moving.”
DP World argues that its investment in digital technology and automation has been a key factor in ensuring it has faced minimal disruption at its global locations.
Source: The Maritime Standard
