DP World sees gross volume growth of 1.9% in Q1 2022

UAE’s DP World handled 19.3 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) across its global portfolio of container terminals in the first quarter of 2022, with gross container volume figures increasing by 1.7 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) on a reported basis and up 1.9 per cent on a like-for-like basis.

Global figures

The first quarter’s volume growth was driven by Asia Pacific, Middle East, Europe and Africa, and Americas regions.

Qingdao (China), Sokhna (Egypt), London Gateway (UK), Yarimca (Turkey), Dakar (Senegal), Caucedo (Dominican Republic), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Posorja (Ecuador) delivered a strong performance at the asset level. Jebel Ali handled 3.4 million TEU in the first quarter, a decrease of 1 per cent year-on-year.

At a consolidated level, the company’s terminals handled 11.3 million TEU during the first quarter of 2022, increasing 1.4 per cent on a reported basis and up 1.1 per cent y-o-y on a like-for-like basis.

Steady performance

DP World Group chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem stated: “As anticipated, Q1 2022 volume growth has softened due to the strong prior-year performance and uncertain macro environment. However, we continue to see robust growth in markets such as Asia Pacific and the Americas, while in Europe, London Gateway’s strong performance has continued into 2022. The softer volumes Jebel Ali (UAE) is due to loss of low margin throughput where we remain focused on more profitable origin and destination cargo.

“Looking ahead, the near-term outlook is mixed given the geopolitical environment, but we remain positive on the medium to long term fundamentals of the industry. On our broader portfolio, we continue to make strong progress in strengthening our product offering, allowing us to connect directly with cargo owners to deliver a range of unique logistic solutions. Overall, we remain focused on integrating our recent acquisitions, growing profitability while managing growth capex, delivering on our 2022 leverage targets and disciplined investment to cement DP World’s position as the logistics partner of choice.”

Accolade awarded

DP World has also been the ‘Best Logistics Technology & Cold Chain Delivery’ award at this year’s Vaccine Industry Excellence Awards, held in Washington DC. The award recognised DP World’s work over the last two years to address challenges in vaccine delivery and supply chain bottlenecks.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, DP World signed a three-year partnership with UNICEF to support its COVAX mission. The company provided UNICEF free worldwide access to its logistical services, helping it deliver two billion vaccine doses by 2022 in hard-to-reach nations.

In recent news, DP World announced the launch of its wholesale e-commerce platform dubuy.com in Tanzania. The online marketplace will give Tanzanian businesses better access to international markets.

Read: Dubai’s DP World launches e-commerce platform in Tanzania

In February, the company announced that Cargoes Flow — an end-to-end visibility platform for tracking intermodal shipments across sea, air, and land— was available to customers.

Read: Dubai’s DP World launches new intermodal shipment tracking tool