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DUBAI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Dubai Ports (DP) World, the world's third biggest port operator in relation to assets, said Monday the profit for 2016 rose 29.9 percent, reaching 1.260 billion U.S. dollars amid backwind from its operations in Asia-Pacific and South Asia.
The firm's gross throughput climbed 3.2 percent to 63,658 twenty-foot equivalent units. DP World, which controls 77 operating marine and inland terminals supported by over 50 related businesses in 40 countries across six continents, said market conditions in the Asia Pacific and Indian Subcontinent region were generally positive.
Volume growth of 1.8 percent was driven by the Indian Subcontinent terminals as the region benefited from new capacity in Mumbai (India) and a favourable trading environment.
Market conditions in the Australia and Americas region, on the other hand, have been challenging, said DP World.
"Volatile currency and weaker commodity prices led to softer economic growth in this region." Market conditions in the Middle East, Europe and Africa region were mixed, the firm added.
DP World Chairman and CEO Sultan Bin Sulayem said "Disciplined investment throughout the economic cycle has been one of the keys to delivering consistent growth and in 2016, we invested 1.298 billion dollars across our portfolio in markets with strong demand and supply dynamics."
On the outlook, Bin Sulayem said "While 2017 is expected to be another challenging year for global trade, we have made an encouraging start to the year and we expect to continue to deliver ahead-of-market volume growth."
On the Nasdaq Dubai, shares of Dubai World closed 0.51 percent higher at 21.61 dollars.
