Dubai-headquartered terminal operator DP World has announced that the group’s chairman Ahmed bin Sulayem was appointed CEO of the company with immediate effect.
Bin Sulayem, who became the operator’s chairman in May 2007, will continue holding the role of chairman alongside its new position as CEO.
Bin Sulayem succeeded the 53-year-old Mohammed Sharaf, who retired from his role as DP World’s CEO in January 2016 to pursue other opportunities after 23 years at the company, 11 of which holding the role of CEO.
In January this year, the operator’s board reported that it had begun a process to identify a permanent successor and that Ahmed Bin Sulayem was to carry out the CEO’s duties and functions on an interim basis.
Deepak Parekh, senior independent non-executive director at DP World, said: “It is the unanimous view of the independent non-executive directors that Sultan [Ahmed bin Sulayem] is the right candidate to ensure continuity of leadership. His extensive experience and proven track-record makes him extremely well placed to lead the group to the next level.”
On the same day of Bin Sulayem’s appointment, the group announced that it handled a total of 29m teu across its container terminals in 2015 at a consolidated level, a 2.7% year-on-year increase on a reported basis from the 28m teu handled in 2014.
The operator reported that growth in 2015 was largely driven by its terminals in Europe and in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with a record 15.6m teu handled in the UAE in 2015, representing a 2.3% like-for-like growth year-on-year.
Bin Sulayem said: “As we look ahead into 2016, we look forward to the new capacity at Rotterdam (Netherlands), Mumbai (India), Prince Rupert (Canada) and Yarimca (Turkey) to deliver a full year contribution to our throughput.
“We expect to open our third berth at London Gateway (UK) in mid-2016, adding 600,000 teu of new capacity. The additional 2m teu at terminal three (T3) Jebel Ali (UAE) will now be operational in the second half of 2016.”
He added: “While trading conditions in 2016 are expected to remain challenging, we believe a portfolio focused towards faster growing markets and origin and destination cargo, coupled with the addition of new capacity can continue to outperform the market.”
Source: Container Management
Source: Container Management