Seoul: Hanjin Shipping's net profit returned to the black in 2010, lifted by higher earnings as global cargo transport volumes and freight rates improved.
Revenues last year from the container and bulk divisions hit $8.14bn, up 44.9% from $5.61bn in 2009, while operating profit surged to $535m from a loss of $736m in 2009. Net profit soared to $229m from a massive loss of $1.09bn the previous year, the South Korean firm said in a statement on Friday.
Hanjin Shipping's container division saw 52.4% upturn to $6.75bn in total revenue as a result of increased cargo volume and rate recovery in the Trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe trades. The bulk division experienced 17% lift to $1.38bn in revenue due to high cargo volume because of the deployment of new vessels and partial recovery in freight rates.
The volume of containers transported rose by 15.1% year-on-year to 3.7m teu, while bulk volumes went up 23.3% to 59,623 tonnes. Looking into 2011, Hanjin Shipping commented: "For the container division, we expect oversupply to be the biggest challenge considering the continuous uncertainty of the world's major economies and the deployment of mega-sized vessels scheduled throughout the year." It added that the bulk market is expected to stay weak due to capacity increase and potential barriers of exporting raw materials. [28/01/11]
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