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Yemen notifies DP World to hand over Aden port

29 August 2012 22:29 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Yemeni government is looking forward to a prompt reply from Dubai Ports World (DP World), the world’s third largest maritime port operator, after urging the latter to hand over the Aden container terminal, an official at the transport ministry said Wednesday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The Yemeni state-owned Gulf of Aden ports corporation terminated the 30-year contract with DP World earlier this week, as the Dubai operator has not fulfilled its obligations including increasing the container capacity and expanding the Aden container terminal, said the official, who asked not to be named.

A legal team comprised by Yemeni and foreign members handed the notification to the managing director of DP World in Aden on Tuesday, but the company has not responded yet, the official said.

"A Yemeni cadre has already been selected to take over and start operating the terminal in two days," the official added, "We will go ahead and take necessary measures upon expected moves by DP World."

According to a 2008 deal, DP World would have expanded the Aden container terminal and increased the container capacity to 900,000 by 2011.

"The UAE company failed to implement the agreed provisions, leaving the Aden port to deteriorate," officials earlier said.

According to official documents obtained by the transport ministry, the container number decreased under DP World from more than 500,000 in 2008 to less than 150,000 at the end of 2011. The documents also said that Yemen is losing about 12 billion U.S. dollars a year due to the deterioration of this important