Zim ended 1H with US$94 millions profit

Zim integrated services ltd. published last week its financial result for the period ending June 2005. The results indicate a US$94 millions profit compared with US$76 millions in the same period last year.

The report noted that the company ended the second quarter with a net profit of US$20 millions compared with US$59 millions last year.

Mr. Yossi Rosen, director general of Israel Corporation which owns Zim, emphasized that the company made the profit despite unprecedented increase in the price of fuel which had gone up by 23% in the first quarter and 34% in the second quarter, compared to the parallel period last year.

Rosen noted also that during the first half, revenue from shipping and services were US$1.392 billions compared to US$1.143 billions in the parallel, an increase of 21%. The improvement was reached despite the increase of 43% in chartering on new tonnage and 23% increase in price of fuel.

According to Rozen the increase in turnover in the first half was largely attributed to the increase of 16% in the average container freight rate as well as an increase of 6% in the number of containers shipped.

The report also noted that in the first six months Zim transported 1.034 millions containers compared to 972,000 in the parallel. In the second quarter the company shipped 545,000 containers compared to 501,000 in the parallel quarter in 2004.