DP World Spends $100m a Month Keeping Jebel Ali Ready as Ships Divert
Port running at roughly 10% of normal capacity, handling 4,000 boxes a day against 40,000
DP World is spending about $100m a month to keep its flagship Jebel Ali terminal operational while vessels steer clear of the crisis-hit UAE container gateway, chief executive Yuvraj Narayan said on the group's first-half earnings call on Thursday.
The port, one of the world's busiest container hubs, is running at roughly 10% of its normal capacity. It currently handles about 4,000 containers a day, against a typical 40,000. "There is hardly any activity as far as vessels are concerned," Narayan said. "But we still do approximately 4,000 containers a day through various alternate routes, whether they are through Fujairah, through Khor Fakkan, through Oman, through Jeddah land route."
Those alternate routes have become the practical means of keeping cargo moving through the region. Narayan stressed that the terminal itself remains prepared to resume normal service quickly: "We have kept Jebel Ali in a full state of preparedness to be able to reopen and restart at 48 hours' notice, and we intend to keep it that way."
The group is also building capacity outside the strait. Two new terminals at Fujairah are expected to cost about $750m over the next 24 to 36 months, becoming operational in roughly two years and lifting DP World's total UAE container capacity by 2.5m teu to 22m teu. Narayan said the terminals would not change the plan to spend about $3bn in capital expenditure across 2026, and that net leverage was expected to stay below four times annual EBITDA. The company held about $8.2bn in available liquidity.
The wider network absorbed much of the damage. First-half revenue rose 13% year on year to $12.7bn, although pre-tax profit fell 39% to $585m. Global throughput dropped 5.7% to 42.8m teu; excluding Jebel Ali, throughput rose 5.4% on a reported basis. "While one important gateway is temporarily impacted, the underlying business continues to perform well," chief financial officer Anil Mohta said.
By segment, ports and terminals posted revenue of $4.5bn, up 4%. Logistics revenue climbed 24% to $5.9bn and marine services generated $2.3bn, up 7%.
