DP World Australia

Fourth-largest ports operator sees tepid volume growth, but logistics provides offset.

Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has handed out a smack-down to the three main longshoremen companies in Australia, which were using their oligopoly market power to impose unfair terms on trucking companies. The stevedoring companies involved are DP World Australia, Hutchison Ports Australia and Victoria International Container Terminal.

DP World (NASDAQ Dubai: DPW) announced that it will repurchase P&O Ferries from Dubai World according to a DP World press release. The acquisition will be worth BGP (British pound sterling) 322 million or $421 million. (All values will be converted to U.S. dollars.)

Longshoremen working for DP World Australia (DPWA) are fired up over an alleged threat to their income protection insurance. That benefit was granted to them by the company three years ago in the last round of negotiations for a collective employment contract known as an “enterprise agreement”.