Cosco suffers 64.7pc profit loss on back of rate fall, higher bunker costs
CHINA Cosco Holdings Company, which operates China's largest container line, suffered a 64.7 per cent fall in profit attributable to shareholders, which dropped from CNY2.7 billion (US$340 million) in the first half of 2005 to CNY978 million during the first six months of this year.
Despite a 12.5 per cent increase in container volume to 2.4 million TEU in the first six months of 2006, a decline in freight rates and an increase in bunker costs accounted for the 74.1 per cent decrease in profits from container shipping during the period under review, according to a Cosco statement released with its interim results by the Stock of Exchange of Hong Kong.
During the first half, the aggregate number of containers handled by the group's 16 joint venture container terminal companies, in which Cosco Pacific has interests, reached 14.9 million TEU, representing an increase of 23.5 per cent.
In all trade lanes, Cosco traffic was up. On the transpacific, volume rose 11.2 per cent from 551,161 TEU last year to 612,881 TEU in the first half of 2006. On the Asia-Europe run, trade was up 11.2 per cent from 493,514 TEU to 551,431 TEU over the same period. Australasian traffic increased by 15.3 per cent from 659,611 TEU to 760,218 TEU over the first half.
Other traffic, including transatlantic, was up 8.8 per cent from 115,925 TEU to 126,150 TEU. Traffic within mainland China was also up 11.7 per cent from 336,621 TEU to 376,023 TEU over the same period.
Overall, Cosco container traffic rose 12.5 per cent from 2.1 million TEU in the first half of 2005 to 2.4 million TEU for the corresponding period this year
