DP World volume down 8% in early 2009

DP World volume down 8% in early 2009    DP World said Wednesday that volumes through its 49 global terminals fell 8 percent in the first two months of the 2009, weighed down by substantial drops in throughput in Europe and Asia, Associated Press reported.
   In a round-table discussion with reporters in Dubai, DP World Chief Executive Mohammed Sharaf said he sees no quick end to the volume declines, save for trade in underdeveloped nations, of which DP World has some terminals.
   “Volumes are just disappearing,” Sharaf said. “It’s not that we are losing our business to our competition ' It’s just not there. It’s gone.”
   DP World saw profits halved in 2008, from $1.15 billion in 2007 to $530.7 million last year. But 2007 profits included the sale of U.S. terminals it acquired in the takeover of P&O Ports — terminals it was forced to sell to AIG after political calls to keep a Middle East company from operating commercial terminals in U.S. ports. Adjusting for that, the company’s profit from continuing operations rose to $620.8 million from $419.7 million in 2007, AP reported. Revenue grew 20 percent to $3.28 billion.
   “Sharaf said DP World is aiming to cut at least 3 percent of fixed costs from what executives say is already a lean organization, and has laid off a ‘minimal’ number of workers,” the AP report said. “It also has agreed to accept late payments from some shipping companies struggling to make ends meet in the short term. The company is also delaying the addition of about 50 percent of new capacity it had planned. Sharaf said all new projects except those due to come online soon are ‘under review.’ That includes expansion of the company’s main port in Dubai and a massive complex known as London Gateway set to become Britain’s first new deep-sea container port in more than a quarter century.”