DP World volumes grow 8.9 percent in 2014

The terminal operator handled nearly 60 million TEUs in the past year.    DP World Limited handled 59.88 million TEUs at its container terminals during 2014, an increase of 8.9 percent compared to 54.99 million TEUs in 2013.
   Year-over-year volumes for the fourth quarter of 2014 increased 5.5 percent from 14.26 million TEUs in Q4 2013 to 15.04 million.
   In its latest earnings statement, the company attributed its success in 2014 to growth in the Asia Pacific, Indian Subcontinent, Europe and UAE regions, as well as new volumes at its London Gateway and Embraport terminals.
   DP World Chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said “With volume growth of 8.9% in 2014 we believe we have once again outperformed the expected 2014 market growth of approximately 5%. This demonstrates that a portfolio focused on origin and destination cargo and faster growing markets continues to be the right strategy to follow. Our new developments at London Gateway and Embraport contributed to our excellent 2014 performance.
   “Our flagship Jebel Ali port continues to reach record highs with 15.2 million TEU handled in 2014,” added Sulayem. “The opening of an additional 2 million TEU capacity in the third quarter of 2014 has alleviated constraint and will provide the capacity we need to achieve further volume growth at Jebel Ali. A further 2 million TEU is expected to come on line in the second half of this year taking total Jebel Ali capacity to 19 million TEU.
   “Given the strong volume performance in 2014, we expect to meet full year market expectations,” Sulayem said. “As we look ahead into 2015 we have a number of exciting developments, including new capacity coming on stream in The Netherlands, Turkey, India and The United Arab Emirates, the development of a logistics hub in Belgium and further integrated ports and logistics solutions for our customers with the completion of our JAFZA acquisition.”