Pragmatic DP World puts decline in container handling into broader perspective

* username: rupertbu

Full-year profits at DP World, one of the world's largest container terminal operators, are set to fall after it handled 8 per cent fewer containers in 2009 than in 2008, says Robert Wright in London .

But the Dubai-based company, controlled by debt-laden Dubai World, said in a trading statement that it had performed less poorly than the overall container ports market because of its emphasis on faster-growing emerging markets.

It also saw only a 6 per cent fall in throughput at its core terminals in Dubai, which account for a disproportionate share of profits.