DUBAI: DP World, the world’s third-largest port operator, will invest $850 million over the next three years to create additional capacity at one of its key ports in the United Arab Emirates, the company said in a statement on Monday.
The expansion of the Jebel Ali port would create an additional capacity of four million TEU, or twenty-foot equivalent container unit, taking the total capacity of the port to 19 million TEU by 2014, the statement said.
The port operator said the investment will be financed from existing cash resources and cashflow.
The company, one of the more profitable assets of debt-laden Dubai World, warned of tough conditions for its customers in 2012 but said it would achieve throughput growth of more than 7 percent.
DP World has been pushing forward with growth into Europe and announced earlier this year that it would go ahead with the construction of its new London Gateway deep-sea container port, to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2013.
The company also listed in London in June, but this move has done little to boost liquidity in the stock, with the London listing on average trading less than 35,000 shares per day.
Shares of DP World ended flat on the Nasdaq Dubai bourse Monday.
