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Evergreen and Yang Ming hit by Q3 loss, Wan Hai maintains profit

Evergreen and Yang Ming hit by Q3 loss, Wan Hai maintains profit
Taiwan’s container carriers Evergreen Marine and Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp have sank into the red in the third quarter, while compatriot Wan Hai Lines has maintained a profit.

Evergreen, the biggest shipping line by fleet capacity among the three, posted a third quarter loss of TWD2.41bn ($74.05m) as against a profit of TWD1.86bn in the same period of 2014.

Revenue for the three months ended 30 September 2015 was recorded at TWD33.04bn, down 12.1% from TWD37.6bn in the previous corresponding period.

Yang Ming also posted a disappointing third quarter results with a larger deficit of TWD4.23bn, a reversal from the gain of TWD1.4bn in the year-ago period.

Revenue for Yang Ming went down 14.5% year-on-year to TWD31.9bn.

Freight rates have been battered by the prolonged sluggish global container shipping market, as the key Asia-Europe rates had been volatile but largely bearish between July to September, according to the Shanghai Containerised Freight Index.

While the Asia-Europe rates had reached a high of 1,109 points on 31 July, they started on a downward trend to a three-month low of 231 points on 23 October before a jump to 988 points in end October.

Meanwhile, Wan Hai, the smaller of the three carriers and largely an intra-Asia player, remained profitable with a gain of TWD1.06bn in the July-September 2015 period, down from the profit of TWD1.81bn in the year-ago period.

Revenue, however, dipped by 13.3% year-on-year to TWD15.27bn.