Global ports operator DP World expects rising volumes at its Red Sea terminals as the Iran conflict nears the two-week mark, its CEO said on Thursday, with the Strait of Hormuz shut and spiralling tanker attacks cutting traffic towards Gulf ports.
The conflict, triggered by US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran, has disrupted energy and transport markets and effectively closed the world's most important oil artery.
Most major gulf ports are reachable only via the narrow Hormuz waterway. Jebel Ali in Dubai, DP World's flagship hub, remains fully operational with no infrastructure damage but is seeing lower inbound vessel traffic, CEO Yuvraj Narayan said. Volumes are "still moving through the ports on the eastern side of the Strait of Hormuz," he added.
UAE ports outside the strait have limited capacity. Khorfakkan can handle five million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) and Fujairah less than one million, leaving them unable to compensate for lost throughput at Jebel Ali or Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa Port.
Jebel Ali handled 15.6 million TEU last year out of the group's 56.1 million consolidated TEUs. Narayan said DP World was deploying regional rerouting and operational mitigation measures to maintain supply chain continuity.
Its Red Sea ports, including Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and Sokhna in Egypt, were likely to see an increase in traffic as a result of the crisis, he added, without specifying what extra volumes or types of cargo they might handle.
But logistical and security risks remain high. German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd said on Thursday that projectile fragments hit a container vessel chartered by Maersk near the Strait of Hormuz.
"I can see reopening (of the strait) happening maybe in phases, in terms of some breakthroughs happening, some naval escorts guiding vessels," Narayan told analysts in a conference call. It would likely reopen first to ships from countries with "neutral or friendly relations with Iran," he added.
DP World is one of the world’s largest port and logistics operators, with operations in countries including Canada, Peru, India and Angola.
The company also reported that profit attributable to shareholders rose almost 43 per cent to $1.07 billion last year, boosted by strong performances in its ports, terminals and logistics division. It has set capital expenditure of about $3 billion for 2026.
Narayan was appointed group CEO in February after long-serving former chief Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem resigned amid mounting pressure over his alleged ties with Jeffrey Epstein.
(Reporting by Federico Maccioni. Additional reporting by Sarah El Safty and Nadine Awadalla. Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus, Louise Heavens and Mark Potter)
