China COSCO Shipping to post US$38m Q1 net profit with volum

SHANGHAI-HEADQUARTERED COSCO Shipping Holdings said it would report a profit in the first-quarter, boosted by an improving market and cost savings from a recent merger.

The world's fourth-largest container shipping line said in a stock market statement late last week that it expects to post a net profit of CNY260 million (US$37.7 million) for the three months to end-March.

The result would be up from a loss of CNY4.48 billion during the first quarter of 2016, although year-on-year comparisons are difficult as COSCO became a new company last year through the merger of two major domestic shipping firms.

COSCO said it shipped 54 per cent more cargo during the quarter than a year ago. The China Containerised Freight Index, which tracks freight rates from China to overseas ports, had risen 11.7 per cent on a year ago, indicating overall sector recovery, it said.

The company last month flagged that it was seeing positive signals in demand after reporting a loss of CNY9.9 billion for calendar 2016, Reuters reported.

COSCO has been restructuring since its merger, selling some units at a loss and focusing on container shipping.