São Paulo – Dubai, UAE-based multinational logistics company DP World handled 18.9 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) at its container terminals around the world in the first quarter of this year. Gross container volume was up 10.2% year-on-year.
Q1 2021 saw solid growth in all three regions served by DP World, especially in terminals in India and Australia. The company did not release throughput numbers for the Port of Santos, in Brazil.
The group’s main terminal, in Jebel Ali, UAE, handled 3.5 TEU in Q1, up 2.6% year-on-year.
DP World chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem was quoted in a press release as saying the company is delighted with Q1 results, which proved stronger than the industry’s 8.9% growth estimate. “This performance is ahead of expectations and illustrates the resilience of the global container industry, and DP World’s continued ability to outperform the market,” he said.
Sulayem also said that “while the near-term trading environment is positive, we remain mindful that the economic recovery can be disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, geopolitical uncertainty in some parts of the world and on-going trade war.”
Overall, the strong start leaves the company poised to deliver improved performance in 2021. “Despite the more benign trading environment, we remain focused on containing costs to grow profitability, managing growth capex and continued execution of our strategy of delivering supply chain solutions to beneficial cargo owners,” Sulayem said.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
