Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said DP World has ‘performed better than expected’
Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of DP World.
DP World reported a 7.9% drop in container volumes in Q2 on Monday, with chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem saying the global outlook remains “uncertain” for the industry as Covid-19 continues to cause supply chain issues.
“Overall, we are encouraged that our business has performed better than expected and, while the outlook is still uncertain, we remain positive on the medium to long-term fundamentals of the industry,” said Bin Sulayem.
He said despite a 7.9% drop in volumes, DP World “compares favourably against an estimated industry decline of -15% in 2Q2020”.
“This outperformance once again demonstrates that we are in the right locations and a focus on origin and destination cargo will continue to deliver the right balance between growth and resilience,” he said.
Bin Sulayem said DP World’s ports across the world have remained operational throughout the pandemic, which he attributed to an “early investment in digital technology and automation”.
At a consolidated level, DP World’s terminals handled 20 million TEU during the first half of 2020, increasing 2.4% on a reported basis and down 5.4% year-on-year on a like-for-like basis.
Volume in the Americas and Australia region was boosted by the consolidation of Australia, Caucedo (Dominican Republic), and acquisition of container terminals in Chile and commencement of operations in Posorja (Ecuador). Jebel Ali (UAE) handled 6.7 million TEU in H1 2020, down 6.8 per cent year-on-year.
“Looking ahead, our near-term focus is on the safety of our employees, providing solutions to cargo owners that are facing supply chain issues due to the pandemic, integrating our recent acquisitions to drive synergies, containing costs to protect profitability and managing growth capex to preserve cashflow,” Bin Sulayem added.
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