DP World to start construction on Djibouti terminal
Dubai Ports World may have been stymied for security reasons from retaining rights to port facilities in the United States, but continues to expand its marine terminal management business in the rest of the world.
The Dubai state-owned company reiterated Saturday its intent to build a new deepwater container terminal in the Red Sea port of Djibouti capable of handling an additional 1.5 million TEUs per year.
Construction on the $300 million facility, located 10 kilometers from the existing port in Doraleh, is expected to commence within the next few months, DP World said Saturday.
The terminal, which will have eight super post-Panamax gantry cranes, is scheduled to begin operations in 2008.
International traders see Djibouti as a strategically located transshipment point on the east/west trade routes and a key intermodal hub for cargo to and from nations in the interior of Africa. The country has grown in importance after ocean carriers diverted business from the Port of Aden after the French supertanker Limburg was attacked by terrorists off the Yemeni coast.
DP World has managed the Port of Djibouti, which has the capacity to annually handle 10 million tons of cargo and 500,000 containers, since 2001 under a 20-year concession. Under DP World management, container productivity at the port has doubled to more than 25 moves per hour, making it one of the most efficient ports in Africa, according to the company. That figure varies from 20 moves per hour cited elsewhere on the DP World Web site.
DP World also manages the new Doraleh Oil Terminal under contract from the government of Djibouti. The company contributed $30 million to the $100 million refueling station that recently began serving the U.S. and French navies, among other customers.
Globally, DP World is also developing a terminal on a green field site in the Port of Cochin in Vallarpadam, India, which it will manage under a 38-year lease. It recently completed the first three berths for a large terminal in the Port of Busan, South Korea, capable of handling the largest container ships in the world. And it recently acquired a green field site in Yarmica, Turkey, along with rights to construct a new container terminal.
DP World acquired Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. in March, making it the third-largest container terminal operator in the world in terms of volume. Political opposition in the United States forced the company to unload P&O’s U.S. terminal rights and cargo handling businesses. The company is in the process of finding a buyer.