Steady growth propels DP World past 100 million TEUs handled

The UAE-headquartered logistics heavyweight DP World has passed a “momentous” milestone, having surpassed 100 million TEUs of container handling capacity across its global portfolio since its inception.

As disclosed, over the past ten years, DP World has invested over $11 billion in strategic investments and infrastructure developments. Starting with the reported 75.6 million TEUs in 2014, the last decade has seen the UAE-based giant’s capacity growing by around 33%, driven primarily by expansions and new greenfield developments as well as acquisitions.

According to DP World, its global gross container handling capacity also jumped by 5% over the last 12 months.

“Reaching such an impressive milestone is significant for us, but it’s what that figure represents in terms of the flow of global trade and what it has enabled in the markets we have invested in that is really exciting,” Tiemen Meester, COO, Ports & Terminals, DP World, emphasized, adding that the company has invested in ports and terminals across the world over the last 20 years, particularly in less traditional and underdeveloped trade markets.

“One of the major highlights of 2024 has been our takeover of the Dar es Salaam facility in Tanzania, which has not been developed since the 1950s, with vessel waiting times of sometimes more than a month. Our work there in the last six months has almost eradicated that issue and the future looks a lot brighter for Tanzanian trade.”

The UAE’s logistics player highlighted that this year also marks a few anniversaries, such as 45 years of the Jebel Ali Port and 40 years of the Jebel Ali Free Zone. As Offshore Energy reported, DP World and Denmark’s shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk partnered up in January 2023 to improve operational efficiencies and collaborate on the decarbonization efforts at Jebel Ali Port.

Specifically, the two parties said they would endeavor to implement new processes that would accelerate turnaround times, cut emissions and slash bunker fuel consumption.

As understood, a string of other ‘major’ developments in recent times has fueled DP World’s growth. In January 2024, the company went fossil-free at both its UK logistics hubs with the removal of fossil diesel from its operations at London Gateway.

The London Gateway also received a staggering £1 billion (about $1.3 billion) investment in October 2024 with the primary goal of upping the terminal’s capacity and ‘enhancing’ the UK’s international trade resilience.

Via this funding, the terminal is expected to see the addition of two new shipping berths, increasing the total to six and enabling the facility to handle some of the world’s largest boxships, DP World said.

Further funding by the end of the decade is projected to increase the capacity at the port which is believed to currently be handling approximately 2 million TEUs annually.

Moreover, in Peru, DP World completed a ‘major’ $400 million expansion project at the Port of Callao in June 2024, reportedly boosting container handling capacity at the South Terminal by 80%. In Cochin, India, the UAE player revealed that it introduced new ship-to-shore (STS) cranes as well as electric rubber tyred gantry cranes (e-RTGs), and expanded the yard space, upping the terminal’s total capacity to roughly 1.4 million TEUs a year.

In addition to this, in July 2024, DP World and Türkiye’s Evyap Group wrapped up a Yarimca and Evyapport merger, forming a logistics hub on the Marmara Sea. As informed, the completion followed regulatory approval from the Turkish Competition Authority. 

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