[EN-SEA] "COSCO" Suffers Loss of US$ 1.09 Billion, Profits Plunge 164pc

China Cosco Holdings net profit fell 164.3 per cent year on year in 2009 for a of CNY7.47 billion (US$1.09 billion), said a company statement released to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Revenue from the container shipping minus the income from vessels chartered out, fell 43 per cent to CYN21.2 billion as container throughput fell 9.6 per cent year on year to 5,234,292 TEU. Volumes on transpacific trade dropped 10 per cent, and by 22 per cent on Asia-Europe routes.

The container fleet, the biggest in China and fifth largest in the world, suffered a 39 per cent drop in sales. In 2010, it expected its container volumes to increase eight per cent to 5.67 million TEU.

The Cosco container fleet had 146 operated ships aggregating to 561,038 TEU on December 31, which was 13 per cent more than its fleet in the previous year. But capacity of vessels owned by the company dropped 1.7 per cent. No new vessels were ordered and its order book comes to 54 units of 414,926 TEU.

Dry bulk shipping business declined 7.36 per cent over the previous year to 271.54 million tons. Turnover fell 6.67 per cent to 1.4 trillion ton-nautical miles while revenues measured CYN27.37 billion, down 61.8 per cent year on year.

Dry-bulk sales plunged 62 per cent and volumes declined 7.4 per cent. By December 31, the group's dry bulk fleet comprised of 439 operated ships of 36,572,031 tons and 30 ships of 4,377,000 tons on order.

Its container-terminal subsidiary Cosco Pacific Ltd, the fifth biggest global terminal operator with 6.1 per cent share in the international container terminal market, suffered a 37 per cent decrease in profits. In October 2009, despite labour protests Cosco acquired rights to operate Pier 2 and Pier 3 of Greece's Piraeus container terminal.

Last year, it held equity interests in 28 terminal joint ventures, throughput from which amount to 43.55 million TEU, down five per cent year on year. The company statement described the overall terminal business to have been stable.

With its 14.3 per cent share of global container leasing business, up 0.7 percentage point over 13.6 per cent market share held in 2008, it was rated the second biggest global container leasing company in 2009.

The group's project logistics business recorded a "progress" although revenues declined slightly, with net revenue from chemical logistics up 36 per cent and down 13 per cent for home appliance logistics. It entrenched "its leading position" in the specialised logistics segment.

In 2010, Cosco expects the shipping industry to recover though the market would remain volatile and there would be "great pressure on operating conditions" in container shipping.

Developing countries are expected to acquire more importance in the shipping trade, with Asia especially China predicted to occupy a prominent role.

China Cosco Holdings Company Limited is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in June 2005 and Shanghai Stock Exchange in June 2007.

Source : HKSG, 24.04.10.