EMEA News
DP World to Double Investments on Falling Oil Price
Dubai-headquartered DP World says falling oil prices are good news for global shipping as it plans to double investments this year, local media reports.
"The fall in oil price may stimulate particular economies such as India and China who are among the most energy-dependent countries, relying on overseas producers for much of their oil needs," said Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chairman of DP World.
"When these engines of growth begin to rise so does the rest of the world.
"As a barometer of world trade our operations can benefit should there be an increase in trading activity."
And world shipping is expected to be a key benefactor of such developments.
Crude oil prices are currently about half their level six months ago.
In anticipation of such growth DP World is said to be planning investment of up to $1.9 billion in 2015 as part of a move to increase capacity by 14 percent.
The move could see DP World's capacity rise to 80 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) throughput across terminals in Dubai, Turkey, Rotterdam, and India in 2015 and 100 million TEU by 2020.
The overall economic impact on the shipping industry of the unexpected recent fall in oil prices is varied, with carriers such as Maersk Line saying they expect not to benefit from lower bunker prices while other sectors say they're getting a boost.
