COSCO suffers great loss in 3Q 2011

China COSCO Holdings Company Limited announced its financial results for the third quarter of 2011.
China COSCO recorded revenues of RMB 18.229 billion for the third quarter of 2011. Net profit attributable to equity holders of the Company was RMB -2.066 billion. Basic earnings per share were RMB -0.2.

As of September 30, 2011, total assets of the Group were RMB 156.664 billion, an increase of 3.8% from the same period last year. As September 30, 2011, cash and cash equivalent was RMB 43.106 billion.

In 3Q 2011, shipping volume of China COSCO’s container shipping business unit reached 1,892,161 TEU, an increase of 14.2% year-on-year. Revenues from container shipping operations decreased by 21.3% year-on-year to RMB 9,090,495,000.

Shipping volume of the Group's container shipping business in the first three quarters was 5,131,795 TEU, an increase of 11.4% year-on-year. Total revenues of the container shipping segment for the first three quarters decreased by 11.7% year-on-year to RMB 25,610,342,000.

As of September 30, 2011, China COSCO operated 155 container vessels with a total capacity of 660,608 TEU.

In 3Q 2011, shipping volume of China COSCO’s dry bulk shipping business unit recorded 66,992,992 tons, down 1.75% year-on-year. As of September 30, 2011, China COSCO operated 403 dry bulk vessels with a total capacity of 35.67 million DWT. Of these, 233 vessels were self-owned with a total capacity of 18.97 million DWT, 170 were chartered vessels with a total capacity of 16.70 million DWT. Meanwhile, the restructuring and consolidation of dry bulk shipping operations went smoothly.

In 3Q 2011, performance of China COSCO’s logistics business remained sound. The Group achieved promising results in both of its newly developed businesses, i.e. electronic business logistics and white wine logistics.

Revenues of chemical logistics grew at a faster pace when compared with the same period last year, while both of shipping agency and freight forwarding businesses maintained steady growth.

In 3Q 2011, the container terminal unit of the Group handled a total throughput of 13,350,136 TEU, up 10.2% year-on-year. For the first three quarters of 2011, the container throughput handled by the Group reached 37,599,401 TEU, up 16.2% year-on-year. It is noteworthy that the operation at the Piraeus Terminal in Greece remained sound and profitable. <Korea Shipping Gazette>