STX Pan Ocean records highest profit in 3Q

STX Pan Ocean accomplished its highest net profit this year in the third quarter (Q3) of 2010, owing to preemptive responses and increase in long-term freight contracts.

On Thursday, the company announced its Q3 sales to be 1.7 trillion won ($1.4 billion), while operating profits and quarterly net profits totaled 37.6 billion won ($34 million) and 53.1 billion won($48 million), respectively. Sales rose 32.7% from last year 1.3 trillion won, while last year operating deficits were transformed into operating profits this year.

Quarterly net profits rose 453% from the same period last year and 10,449% from the previous quarter. In particular, bulk-shipping, which uses larger shipping vessels, brought in considerable sums in July. Bulk-shipping entails long-term freight contracts that bring in stable profits, while smaller vessels are used to operate on more flexible orders to maximize profits. Long-term bulk contracts saw a considerable increase and matched last quarter record of 27.47 million tons to register 27.44 million tons in total quantity of freight cargos, even though the seasonal peak has passed. The non-bulk contracts also continued to climb up, thanks to the recovery of global economy and continuous investments.

STX Pan Ocean forecast a gradual growth for Q4, as the mess in coal supplies get ironed out and seasonal demand for iron ore and crops start to fire up. Furthermore, the company has been making active efforts for improvements such as introducing profit-yielding vessels and constructing a model re-arranging long-term contracts for stable proceeds.<Korea Shipping Gazette>