COSCO Shipping Forecasts Return to Profit in H1 amid Market Rebound:

Chinese shipping major COSCO Shipping Holdings, the container arm of China Cosco Shipping Group, expects to book a profit of CNY 1.85 billion (USD 272 million) for the first half of this year, the company said in a stock exchange filling citing preliminary forecast.

This is a major rebound when compared to the last year’s loss of CNY 7.2 billion for the corresponding period.

The recovery builds upon the positive results reported for the first quarter of this year when the company posted a net profit of CNY 270 million (USD 39.1 million) against a net loss of CNY 4.46 billion year-on-year.

The shipping firm’s revenues for the first three months surged by 48 percent to CNY 20.1 billion from CNY 13.5 billion seen a year earlier, while its operating profit reached CNY 425 million, bouncing back from an operating loss of CNY 4 billion.

COSCO attributed the shift to the recovery of the container shipping market, market stabilization along with the company’s reorganization activities aimed at cost cutting.

As informed, the average freight rates for box shipping business have risen, accompanied by cargo volume increase of 34.72% year-on-year, and earnings have continued to rise since the fourth quarter of last year.

Source from http://worldmaritimenews.com