(ME Newswire): DP World reports container volumes for the nine months to 30 September 2009 some 8% lower than the same period last year, reflecting a stronger third quarter with volumes in that period only 6% lower than the third quarter last year.
In the third quarter, volumes in the UAE region were in line with the same period last year, resulting in volumes for the first nine months of the year down only 5% against the prior period. In August, the region handled just over a million TEU’s reflecting the continued resilience of the Middle East, Indian Subcontinent and African regions to the global economic downturn.
Mohammed Sharaf, Chief Executive Officer commented:
“We are encouraged that trading in the third quarter of this year has seen volumes begin to stabilise after the significant declines of the first half. We are beginning to see early signs of stability across the industry and container volumes across our three reporting regions all reported more containers handled in the third quarter this year than in the second quarter.
“The final quarter of 2009 will continue to present challenges with tough prior year comparators, particularly in the UAE region where we also anticipate a continuation of significant non-container revenue declines. More widely, our terminals remain acutely focused on maintaining revenues and managing costs and we continue to believe we will deliver 2009 results in line with market expectations.”