<\/p>\n
Ports operator DP World gave an optimistic outlook for 2021 on Thursday, citing pent-up demand for cargo and an easing of geopolitical tensions after the change of U.S. administration.<\/p>\n
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Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, who is chairman and chief executive of the Dubai state-owned global ports operator, said that demand and supply chain capabilities had also improved as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
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\u201cYou are always cautious … (but) the outlook this year looks good for many reasons,\u201d he said on a call with reporters after DP World reported a 29% fall in profit for 2020 compared with 2019, when it was inflated by a land sale.<\/p>\n
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Bin Sulayem had cautioned during Donald Trump\u2019s time as president that trade tensions between the United States and other countries made for a challenging environment.<\/p>\n
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He said U.S. President Joe Biden\u2019s administration was handling trade consultations in a \u201cbetter way\u201d.<\/p>\n
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Bin Sulayem said a shortage of shipping containers as a result of strong demand, in part driven by the need to transport goods associated with the pandemic, was still there but easing.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThat tells you the market is now very good and the expansion is good and the demand in shipping is good.\u201d<\/p>\n
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DP World, one of the world\u2019s largest port operators, said it plans $1.2 billion in capital expenditure this year after posting an 11% rise in revenue to $8.5 billion for 2020.<\/p>\n
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However, attributable profit after separately disclosed items fell to $846 million from $1.19 billion. DP World said this drop would have been 6% excluding a 2019 land sale.<\/p>\n
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It handled 71.2 million shipping containers in 2020, a volume similar to 2019.<\/p>\n
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Bin Sulayem said earlier in a statement that DP World had performed better than expected \u201cin a year like no other\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He also said DP World was looking at other potential investment opportunities in Israel, including ports in Eilat and Ashdod, and logistics parks elsewhere, as it awaits a decision on its joint venture bid for Haifa Port.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIsrael is a good and a very strategic bridge between Europe and many parts of the business that we have,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n
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The United Arab Emirates and Israel established formal ties last year.<\/p>\n
maritime professional<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ports operator DP World gave an optimistic outlook for 2021 on Thursday, citing pent-up demand for cargo and an easing of geopolitical tensions after the change of U.S. administration. Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, who is chairman and chief executive of the Dubai state-owned global ports operator, said that demand and supply chain capabilities had also …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[1376,7301,10125,1185],"class_list":["post-26374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-maritime-news","tag-demand","tag-optimistic","tag-pentup","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/26375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}