Djibouti signs new port deal after ending DP World contract

Djibouti’s Doraleh Container Terminal Management Company has signed a deal with Singapore-based Pacific International Lines (PIL) to raise by a third the amount of cargo handled at the port, the country’s Ports and Zones Authority said on Tuesday.

The agreement is expected to raise performance at the Doraleh Container Terminal, allowing it to handle an extra 300,000 20-foot equivalent unit containers (TEU) annually, the authority said, without providing any further details.

Last month, Djibouti ended its contract with Dubai’s DP World, one of the world’s biggest port operators, to run the Doraleh Container Terminal, citing failure to resolve a dispute that began in 2012.

Read: Djibouti ends container terminal contract with Dubai’s DP World

DP World called the move an illegal seizure of the terminal and said it had begun new arbitration proceedings before the London Court of International Arbitration, which last year cleared DP World of all charges of misconduct over the concession to run the terminal.

The Doraleh terminal has a capacity of 1.6 million TEUs per year. “This agreement is a first important step towards Doraleh Container Terminal fulfilling its capacity potential,” the ports authority said.

PIL is one of Asia’s biggest shipping companies, ranked “11th amongst the top container ship operators in the world,”, it said on its website.