São Paulo – This Tuesday (31st), DP World, a maritime port managing company based in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, announced that the cargo throughput at ports controlled by the company and those in which it owns stakes increased by 10% in 2011, compared with 2010. The worldwide throughput was 54.7 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). Not considering facilities which started operating last year, the increase was 9%.
According to a company statement, the result was influenced by good performance at terminals in the Emirates, through which 13 million TEUs were handled, a 12% increase over 2010. There were also significant increases in ports in the Asia and Pacific region, Africa and the Americas, and capacity boosts in Pakistan and India.
Considering solely the terminals controlled by DP World, the throughput was 27.5 million TEUs last year, an 8% increase over 2010. The company sold part of its stakes in five Australian terminals in 2011, which were controlled exclusively by it. If these facilities were included, the rate would be 9% according to the company.
“DP World delivered another strong performance in the final quarter of the year despite the macro economic uncertainty,” said the company chairman, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, according to the statement. “These results are a reflection of our continued focus on those regions which are seeing strong trade growth,” he added.
The DP World CEO, Mohammed Sharaf, stated that the company’s focus is on growing emerging markets. In Brazil, DP World is building a terminal in Santos alongside local company Odebrecht.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
