DP
World, the world’s third-largest port operator, will invest $850m over the next
three years to expand its port in Jebel Ali, the company said in a statement on
Monday.
The
expansion of the UAE port will boost TEU capacity, or twenty-foot equivalent
container unit, at the port to 19 million by 2014, the company said in a
statement to the Dubai bourse.
The port
operator said the investment will be financed from existing cash resources and
cashflow.
The
operator, one of the more profitable assets of Dubai World, will adapt 1,860
metres of quayside and 70 hectares of yard from an existing cargo berth into a
new container terminal.
“With
GDP forecasts reflecting a continuation of growth across the region and
container shipping lines ordering larger vessels, this expansion will ensure… the
additional capacity required,” Mohammed Sharaf, chief executive of DP World,
said in a statement.
The
ports operator in October warned of tough conditions for its customers in 2012,
but said it would achieve throughput growth of more than 7 percent next year.
The
company, which listed in London in June, said third-quarter gross volumes were
14.4 million TEU, up 10 percent from the year-earlier period. Its consolidated
terminals handled 20.5 million TEU in the first nine months of the year, with
growth mostly coming from the UAE, Africa and the Americas.
DP World
has been pushing forward with growth into Europe and announced earlier this
year that it would go ahead with the construction of its new London Gateway
deep-sea container port, to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2013.
The
company also listed in London in June, but this move has done little to boost
liquidity in the stock, with the London listing on average trading less than
35,000 shares per day.
*With
agencies
Follow us on
