AD Ports posts record Q3 profit as UAE box volumes halve

AD Ports Group booked record third-quarter earnings — net profit up 64% to AED 975 million — even as container throughput at its UAE terminals collapsed 57% year on year to 751,000 TEU.

The contrast is the story. Revenue climbed 48% to AED 7.99 billion, EBITDA rose 63% to AED 1.97 billion, and all of it landed while the Strait of Hormuz disruption kept squeezing cargo flows through the group's home terminals in Abu Dhabi.

So what does this change for shippers and carriers using the Gulf? In short: the cargo is still moving, just through different doors.

How the group offset a 57% volume drop

AD Ports kept cargo flowing by routing it around the Strait. It continued pushing volumes through Fujairah Terminals and Khor Fakkan Port, both located outside the Strait of Hormuz, and expanded land and air transport connections alongside additional storage and warehousing capacity.

The numbers show a partial recovery, not a full one. UAE container throughput was up more than 30% against Q2. Utilisation at UAE box terminals improved from 22% in the second quarter to 29% in the third — better, but still less than a third of capacity. International terminals fared far stronger, with utilisation rising from 61% to 73%.

The Ports Cluster posted revenue of AED 798 million, up 12% year on year, with EBITDA up 8% at AED 388 million.

Feeder shipping and logistics carried the quarter

The real earnings engine sat in Maritime & Shipping. That cluster grew revenue 56% year on year to AED 4.74 billion, and EBITDA more than doubled to AED 1.23 billion — higher freight rates and expanded capacity did the work.

Feeder volumes hit 900,000 TEU, broadly flat against last year but up 22% on Q2. The company also reported rate increases in feeder operations, plus continued growth in Ro-Ro and tanker activity.

Logistics delivered the sharpest percentage gains. Cluster revenue rose 76% to AED 1.96 billion, and EBITDA jumped 246% to AED 116 million. The group credited the measures it introduced to keep supply chains connected across the UAE and wider Gulf.

Dr. Afif Saif Al Yafei, Group CEO, said the company had maintained operations through one of the most challenging periods in its history, pointing to the contribution of alternative multimodal routes and the expansion of the group's shipping and logistics activities.

International expansion continues

AD Ports did not sit still on M&A. It funded the acquisition of Brazilian port terminal operator Corredor Logística e Infraestrutura (CLI), completed on 1 October 2026 — adding a Latin American leg to a portfolio already stretching beyond the Gulf.

Nine-month figures underline the scale of the run. Revenue for the first nine months of 2026 reached AED 20.83 billion, up 41% year on year, while net profit hit AED 2.46 billion, up 64% on the same period of 2025.

The catch beneath the record numbers

The record earnings mask a structural problem. A 57% annual decline in UAE container throughput is not a rounding error — it reflects how hard regional shipping disruption has hit port operations themselves. Fujairah and Khor Fakkan workarounds, feeder strength and logistics growth have so far more than covered the gap financially.

Whether they keep doing so depends on how long Hormuz-related disruption persists, and how quickly UAE terminal utilisation climbs from that 29% floor. For now, the group is monetising the detour.