DP World’s 28% profit drop: what it signals for Gulf logistics in 2026

Analysis | Read time: 9 minutes

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Profit squeeze in Gulf logistics

Gulf logistics entered 2025 under visible financial strain. In March 2025, Dubai-based port operator DP World reported a 28.9% contraction in net profit attributable to owners for the 2024 fiscal year, falling to USD 591 million after separately disclosed items.¹

Group revenue reached a record USD 20.02 billion, a 9.7% year-on-year rise, but a 22.6% increase in net finance costs, which reached USD 1.4 billion, compressed the bottom line.²

To read this result correctly, two operational measures matter. A twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) is the standard measure of shipping container capacity. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) measures core operational profitability before financing costs. DP World’s EBITDA held at USD 5.5 billion in 2024.³

Rising interest rates and Red Sea security disruptions prevented that operational performance from flowing through to net profit.²

The segment data shows a sharp split. The logistics, parks, and economic zones segment recorded a net loss of USD 49 million in 2024, down 118% from a profit of USD 268 million in 2023, despite stable revenues of USD 8.2 billion.² High operating costs, currency devaluations in Africa, and regional trade blocks drove the loss.

The ports and terminals segment, by contrast, grew 20.7% to USD 7.7 billion, driven by a 13.9% increase in like-for-like revenue per TEU.²

By March 2026, DP World reported a full financial recovery for fiscal year 2025. Revenue rose 22% to a record USD 24.42 billion and net profit climbed 32.2% to USD 1.96 billion.⁷

The two-year pattern, severe contraction followed by rapid rebound, confirms that Gulf logistics has entered a period of heightened volatility where physical capacity alone does not secure stable profitability.

Performance metric	FY 2024	FY 2025	Change (%)
Group revenue	USD 20.02 bn	USD 24.42 bn	+22.0%
Adjusted EBITDA	USD 5.50 bn	USD 6.43 bn	+18.0%
Adjusted EBITDA margin	27.2%	26.3%	-0.9%
Net profit (total group)	USD 1.48 bn	USD 1.96 bn	+32.2%
Gross throughput	88.3 m TEUs	93.4 m TEUs	+5.8%
Capital expenditure	USD 2.20 bn	USD 3.10 bn	+40.9%

For corporate directors in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Oman, the lesson is direct: margin protection and financial hedging must guide operational expansion decisions, not volume alone.²

DP World’s pivot to trade finance

In response to the 2024 margin compression, DP World initiated a corporate pivot that coincided with a leadership change in early 2026. In February 2026, long-time chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem exited the company following pressure from international finance groups over personal correspondence in unredacted legal files.¹¹

The Dubai government appointed Essa Kazim as chairman and Yuvraj Narayan as group CEO.¹²

Under Kazim and Narayan, DP World shifted focus from terminal acquisition to integrated trade corridors and trade finance for emerging markets.⁹ In July 2025, the company launched DP World Trade Finance, which mobilised over USD 1 billion in working capital through partnerships with 32 financial institutions, including J.P. Morgan, Standard Bank, and Nedbank.¹⁴

The model connects funding directly to the physical shipping process. DP World uses live tracking data from its global ports and container routes to give partner banks visibility over cargo in transit.¹⁴ That visibility reduces credit risk and speeds up lending decisions.¹⁴

A practical example is a USD 70 million cocoa supply contract signed in the Ivory Coast in partnership with J.P. Morgan, the first completed operation under their risk-sharing agreement.¹⁴ Cargo tracking secured the trade credit, stabilising the supply chain for the cargo owner while generating high-margin service revenue for the port operator.

Saudi Arabia’s land bridge route

As maritime routes face ongoing instability, Saudi Arabia is building land-based transport networks to create redundancy in Gulf logistics.¹⁷ In May 2026, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the world’s largest container line, launched a multimodal service connecting European ports with Gulf markets by bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.¹⁹

Under the route, cargo vessels call at Jeddah Islamic Port and King Abdullah Port on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast. Containers transfer to trucks and cross the Kingdom to King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam on the Arabian Gulf coast, where feeder vessels distribute goods to other GCC ports.¹⁹ This overland corridor directly supports Saudi Arabia’s National Transport and Logistics Strategy, which targets a logistics sector contribution of 10% of national GDP by 2030.²⁰

To add rail capacity to the corridor, Saudi Arabia Railways awarded a design contract to Spanish firm Typsa in April 2026 for the 1,500-kilometre Saudi Land Bridge railway.²² The network connects Jeddah to Riyadh via a new 950-kilometre track, with a 146-kilometre spur to King Abdullah Port and a 115-kilometre line linking Dammam with Jubail Industrial City.²³

Passenger trains will operate at up to 250 kilometres per hour; freight trains at 120 to 160 kilometres per hour, cutting transit time between the two coasts to approximately six hours.²² Once operational, the railway targets 50 million tons of freight and 3 million passengers annually.²⁴

Oman and UAE rail progress

Oman committed more than 3.4 billion Omani Rials (approximately USD 8.8 billion) to its transport and logistics sector by end of 2025.²⁵ The country’s third-party logistics market, which covers outsourced warehousing and transport, is expected to reach USD 1.06 billion in 2026.²⁵ Oman’s customs systems ranked first globally in Export Supply Chain Initiation in 2025.²⁶

The central infrastructure project is the Hafeet Rail corridor, a joint venture between Oman Rail, Etihad Rail, and Mubadala Investment Company.²⁷ This 238-kilometre cross-border railway connects Sohar Port in Oman directly to the UAE national rail network at Abu Dhabi, passing through Al Ain and Al Buraimi. By April 2026, construction had reached 40% completion and track-laying operations began in June 2026.²⁷

The joint venture completed 27 million cubic metres of earthworks and poured over 100,000 cubic metres of concrete to navigate mountainous terrain and deep wadis.²⁷ Freight trains will carry up to 276 containers, approximately 15,000 tonnes of general cargo, using interoperable signalling systems to reduce train intervals.²⁶ The rail link is projected to cut cross-border transportation costs between Oman and the UAE by up to 50%.²⁶

Project	Key partners	Status (mid-2026)	Operational goals
Saudi Land Bridge	Saudi Arabia Railways, Typsa, Hill International, Italferr, Sener	Design contract awarded to Typsa, April 2026	1,500 km; connects Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam, Jubail; 50 m tons freight/year
Hafeet Rail	Etihad Rail, Oman Rail, Mubadala Investment Company	40% complete; track-laying began June 2026	238 km; Sohar (Oman) to Abu Dhabi (UAE); cuts cross-border transport costs 50%

SME cash flow under tariff pressure

While large operators build rail corridors, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in GCC logistics face immediate cash pressure in 2026. The GCC trade finance market reached USD 1.07 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow to USD 2.01 billion by 2034.³⁰ Access remains highly restricted for smaller operators, due to rising borrowing costs and strict bank compliance requirements.³⁰

The transition to 12-digit Harmonised System (HS) customs codes, the standardised numerical codes used to classify products for import duties, raised tariffs on consumer goods and electronics by 10% to 15%.³² SMEs now need precise cash flow forecasting and larger upfront reserves to cover customs costs before goods clear.³²

Red Sea shipping diversions compounded the pressure. Routing around Africa added 10 to 15 days to transit times and drained SME cash reserves by 15% to 30%.^17,32 Importers pay carrier fees and upfront tariffs weeks before customers pay for the goods.¹⁷

Smaller logistics firms responded by adopting supply chain finance and factoring, which allows them to borrow against unpaid customer invoices. Global factoring turnover rose 3.7% to over USD 4 trillion in 2025, reflecting how businesses rely on alternative financing when bank credit tightens.³³

Bahrain’s multimodal flexibility model

Bahrain demonstrates how a smaller, trade-dependent economy adapts to regional pressure.¹⁷ The country’s economic growth is projected to reach 3.3% in 2026, supported by investments in digital infrastructure, tourism, and logistics.³⁵

The core facility is Khalifa Bin Salman Port, managed by APM Terminals. The port features an 1,800-metre quay, deep-water berths, and four 61-metre post-Panamax cranes, which handle ultra-large container vessels.³⁶ Tonnage throughput is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 12.9% through 2029, following 17% growth in 2025.³⁸

Geographic location alone no longer guarantees trade volumes in 2026.¹⁷ Bahraini logistics firms plan for multiple transport modes on every major shipment: sea freight for predictable bulk inventory, air freight at Bahrain International Airport for high-value or urgent goods such as medical supplies and electronics, and road transport via the King Fahd Causeway for GCC-wide distribution.¹⁷

The Bahraini Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications enforced the Logistics Zone Rules in 2022, setting mandatory operational standards, minimum infrastructure requirements, and tracking technology requirements for all logistics facilities.⁴¹ These standards ensure low lead times, accurate documentation, and compliance with dangerous goods regulations across regional customs checkpoints.¹⁷

Gateway	Key capabilities	Growth outlook
Khalifa Bin Salman Port (APM Terminals)	1,800 m quay; 6 deep-water berths; post-Panamax cranes	12.9% CAGR through 2029; 17% tonnage growth in 2025
Bahrain International Airport	ICT, pharmaceuticals, perishables, luxury goods	4.8% CAGR; projected 465,800 tonnes by 2029

What comes next for Gulf logistics

The data from 2024 and 2025 points in one direction: the competitive divide in Gulf logistics will widen between operators who can absorb financing costs and those who cannot. The Saudi Land Bridge, Hafeet Rail, and DP World’s trade finance network are all long-horizon projects. Their value compounds over years, not quarters.

Smaller operators who wait for these networks to mature before adjusting their financing structures will face an increasingly narrow window for survival as tariff complexity grows and Red Sea diversions remain unpredictable.

The firms that will hold margin in this environment are those who treat financial resilience as infrastructure, not as a response to a bad year.

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