Shanghai: Cosco Pacific Ltd., Asia's third- largest container-terminal operator, said first-half profit rose 82% on recovering world trade and the sale of a stake in a logistics venture while net income rose to $189.9m from $104.5m a year earlier, writes Bloomberg. The company made an $84.7m gain from selling its stake in Cosco Logistics Co. to its parent.
Cosco Pacific's container traffic rose 19% in the period as a revival in consumer spending prompted retailers to restock Asian-made goods. Global container port volumes may rise 12% this year, with growth led by China, according to Alphaliner, a shipping-data provider.
"Container operations rebounded in the first half as trade recovered," said Francis Lun, general manager at Fulbright Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong. "Europe and U.S. demand is showing some uncertainty and that may slow growth at ports in the second half."
Cosco Pacific's terminal operations handled 22.4m 20-foot equivalent boxes in the first six months. Excluding profit from Cosco Logistics, net income rose 20% to $105.2m, the company said.
Container throughput at the company's terminals will likely rise more than 10% in the second half, Vice Chairman Xu Minjie told reporters in Hong Kong. Port handling charges are also rebounding with increased container demand, he said. "There's room for us to revise upwards tariff rates at our ports, Port handling tariffs are recovering and it's near the peak levels seen in 2008." [25/08/10]
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