Dubai Ports World has unveiled ambitious plans to raise container volume 50 per cent at its port operations over the next three years.

"In a few years, all will be operational and with an expansion of lands that would generate more business. That's 15 per cent (growth) every year," said Dubai Ports World chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem in a Bloomberg report.

Dubai Ports World, owned by the government of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, operates 52 terminals worldwide with eight under construction.

Parent company DP World gained ownership of six major US ports when it acquired Britain's P&O for US$6.8 billion almost a year ago, becoming the world's third-largest container port operator. The deal caused a stir among US lawmakers who feared a Middle Eastern company would be a threat to national security. The Dubai-based company relinquished control, later agreeing to sell to the American International Group.

"On any Dubai World investment) we are looking at the IRR (internal rate of return) of 20 per cent in five years, and that's on whatever cash we put in," he said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.