DP World reports 6.0% gross like-for-like volume growth in H1 2018

DP World Limited handled 35.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units, TEU, across its global portfolio of container terminals in the first half of 2018, with gross container volumes growing by 4.8 percent year-on-year on a reported basis and 6.0 percent on a like-for-like basis.

The first half of 2018 continues to see an upswing in global trade and all three DP World regions delivered growth, particularly our terminals in Europe and Australia. The UAE handled 7.7 million TEU in H1 2018, remaining broadly flat, +0.2%, year-on-year.

At a consolidated level, DP World terminals handled 18.6 million TEU during the first half of 2018, a 4.0 percent improvement in performance on a reported basis and up 4.5 percent year-on-year on a like-for-like basis.

Commenting on the results, Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, said, "Our portfolio has delivered an encouraging performance in the first half of 2018 with all regions continuing to deliver growth. However, as expected there has been a deceleration in the growth rate in Q2 2018 due the tougher year-on-year comparables, where Q2 2017 grew 10.7 percent year-on-year driven by market share gains from the new shipping alliances.

"Nevertheless, the robust performance across all regions continues to be an affirmation of our strategy to deploy relevant capacity in key markets and operate a diversified portfolio. We are pleased to see our terminals in Europe and Australia continue to deliver growth and still expect to see increased contributions from our new investments in the second half of the year," he added.

Bin Sulayem went on to say that as geopolitical headwinds and recent changes in trade policies continue to pose uncertainty to the container market, first half volume performance demonstrates that DP World's portfolio is well positioned to deliver growth. "We continue to focus on delivering operational excellence and disciplined investment to remain the port operator of choice as well as strengthening our product offering to play a wider role in the global supply chain as a trade enabler," he concluded.

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