Revenue from dry bulk shipping, which primarily consists of charter hire income and ocean freight income, rose 24% to $106.2m in the first half. Charter hire income and ocean freight income amounted to $89.3m, up from $57.8m previously and $16.8m respectively although the latter saw a drop from the $27.7m seen in 2013.The container shipping segment continued to struggle like the rest of the industry, seeing a 15% drop in revenue to $7.1m from $8.3m previously. Apart from generally low rates, Sinotrans also took the opportunity of the downturn to dispose of four older ships in 2013, which resulted in a year-on-year decrease in the total number of operating days.
"The oversupply pressure continued to drag recovery of the shipping market, curbing the charter hire and freight rate at low levels. In face of such complicated and ever-changing market situation, our group, sticking to the principle of stable operation, strived to alleviate the adverse effects brought by the depressed market by measures such as business deployment enhancement and fleet structure optimisation with the aim of cost reduction and efficiency improvement," Sinotrans said in a stock market announcement.
Going forward Sinotrans is more optimistic. "Looking ahead, the international shipping market will undergo a slow and modest recovery. With the promising recovery of the developed countries and the steady growing demands of China, the international trade and seaborne demand would maintain moderate growth, while the traditional peak shipping season in the second half of the year is expected to drive the development of the market to a certain extent," it concluded.
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