DP World kick-starts $200 million Mumbai container terminal

MUMBAI // DP World is expanding its operations in India, with the aim of tapping the country's economic growth and boosting the strong trading links between the UAE and India.

The Dubai ports operator yesterday announced the ceremonial laying of the foundation stone by India’s minister of shipping, GK Vasan, for a US$200 million container terminal it is developing near Mumbai, in a significant mark of progress for the project. DP World is investing, building and will operate the new facility at Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Navi Mumbai, where the company already operates a terminal.

DP World has invested more than $1 billion in India in recent years to become the largest container terminal operator in the country, having moved early to capitalise on the country’s potential economic and trade growth. The company operates five container ports in India, including facilities in Gujarat, Chennai and Kerala, as well as a train service for cargo.

“The close relationship we have with our partners [at the port] and the other parts of India is mirrored in the relationship between India and the UAE themselves,” said Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, the chairman of DP World, in Mumbai yesterday. “There is no more important trading partner for the UAE than India. … Trade between us reached a value of close to $75bn in 2012. That trade will now slowly grow. India’s economic growth has been stellar in the past and is set to be stellar again. As the busiest gateway and hub in India, Nhava Sheva has been constrained in the past by lack of facilities, which has impacted trade.”

India was the leading destination for Dubai exports in the first nine months of last year, accounting for 21 per cent of its exports, according to data from the Dubai Media Office.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port is India’s largest container port. It handled 64.5 million tonnes of cargo during the financial year that ran to the end of last March.

The new terminal, which will have a 330 metre-long quay, is expected to open for business next year, DP World said.

The Dubai company won the contract in November 2012 to build the terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port. The agreement was signed through a subsidiary of DP World, Nhava Sheva Gateway Terminal.

“For the last five years, India’s premier port has been in critical need of capacity with container trade rising,” said Anil Singh, the senior vice president and managing director of DP World Subcontinent.

The port is congested and operating beyond capacity and the new terminal would add 800,000 standard container units worth of capacity to the port, DP World said.

Wharf construction has already started and equipment, including cranes, has been ordered.

Mr Vasan said that he was confident that the project could contribute to the port eventually becoming one of the top 10 container ports in the world.

“The development of the projects around ports require a lot of investments,” he said. “In India, container volumes are expected to witness exponential growth. Container terminals at major ports help in furthering international trade. Building new container terminals will help meet the growing global demand.”

India was targeting a three-fold growth in the capacity of its ports from one billion metric tonnes per year in January 2011 to 3.25 billion metric tonnes in 2020, he said.

Mr bin Sulayem admitted that there were challenges with doing business in India.

“We understand that things take time in India and that’s not only us – that’s everybody. The demand and the growth in India is very good and that’s why we are investing.”

Globally, DP World handled 55 million container units last year, which was a marginal expansion of 0.7 per cent compared with the year earlier.

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Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham

Rating: 3.5/5

Tuesday's fixtures

Group A

Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm

Iran v Uzbekistan, 8pm

N Korea v UAE, 10.15pm

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

What is graphene?

Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.

It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.

Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.

By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.

At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.

It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.

But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.

In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.

The bio

Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.

Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.

Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.

Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.

In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013

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