The strongest gains came at ports the company manages in
Asia, the Americas and Australia. The Dubai-based firm is the world’s
fourth-largest seaport operator, with a strong focus on the developing world.
It said it handled the equivalent of 13 million 20-foot
shipping containers between July and September, up from 11.4 million in the
same period a year ago.
Chief Executive Mohammed Sharaf described the volume of
cargo containers as “back in line with 2008 peak levels.” The company said
there are indications that business is also returning in Europe and its home
market in the United Arab Emirates, which accounted for 3 million standard
containers. The quarterly gains also reflected the addition of new ports in
Peru and Vietnam.
DP World has operations at 50 cargo terminals on six
continents, including the Middle East’s largest in Dubai.
While it is anticipating a slowdown in non-container
shipments such as bulk goods, Sharaf said overall growth in the second half is
likely to be stronger than in the first half of the year.
The company reported in July that it moved the equivalent of
23.7 million containers in the first half, a 16 percent increase on the
previous year.
DP World is considered one of Dubai’s industrial crown
jewels. It is part of the city-state’s struggling Dubai World conglomerate, but
has been exempted from that company’s $24.9 billion debt restructuring effort.
It has 11 new port projects still in the works, including a
massive cargo terminal outside London. It said two of those, in Vallarpadam,
India, and Karachi, Pakistan, are on schedule to open by year’s end.
The company is planning to seek a secondary listing for its
shares on the London Stock Exchange sometime after the new year in what is
likely to be an important test of appetite for Dubai-linked investments.
