Cosco Reports $366 Million First Half Loss

Cosco Container Lines reported a loss of $366 million for the first half of 2013, China Cosco Holdings Co. said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange Thursday.

Cosco’s revenue from container shipping fell 1.4 percent even though its container volume rose 8.7 percent in the first half, as average rates declined from a year earlier, especially on the Asia-Europe route, according to the statement.

“The imbalance between demand and supply in the international shipping market had no material improvement,” the company said. “We will continue to work toward the target of turning around this year, which is our top priority.”

China Cosco Holdings, the container line’s parent company, cut its first half loss to $162 million from $796 million in the same half a year ago by selling two assets.

In March, it sold its logistics business to its state-run parent China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co., or Cosco Group, for $1.1 billion. In May, the company’s listed port operating unit Cosco Pacific Ltd. decided to sell its stake in a container manufacturer to Cosco Group for $1.22 billion.

Source – http://www.joc.com/port-news/asian-ports/volume-top-three-chinese-ports-drops_20131028.html