DUBAI - Dubai-listed ports operator DP World reported gross container volumes up 3.2 percent for the first nine months of 2015 on a like-for-like basis and up 3.7 percent on a reported basis, it said on Tuesday. It handled 46.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), with growth largely driven by European and UAE terminals, it said in a statement. Business in the UAE grew by 4 percent, it said, while the European portfolio remained “robust” despite difficult market conditions, it said, without elaborating. Indian volumes also benefited from recent capacity addition at the Mumbai port of Nhava Sheva, it added. “Growth rates in the third quarter have softened across the portfolio” due to economic conditions, said CEO Mohammed Sharaf. He said he remained confident the firm would meet full year market expectations. Consolidated volumes at terminals over which DP World has control rose 2.5 percent on a like-for-like basis to 21.9 million TEU. DP World is one of a handful of listed logistics and transport firms in the Gulf that could benefit from the lifting of international sanctions on Iran. Chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem said in August that DP World was in talks to start port operations in Iran, depending on customer demand. “Iran has a good land bridge of rail that will connect the Silk Route from China to Europe,” he said. “With our ports in the Gulf, we need to go into Iran.”