Joseph Bonney | Aug 26, 2011 10:13AM EDT
China Shipping Container Lines lost $95 million in the first half of the year compared with a profit of $264 million a year earlier, as slumping rates and volumes pushed revenue down 12.9 percent.
The company, joining a series of other liner operators that have seen last year's profits turn into red ink this year, warned difficult market conditions could last another year or two. “The road to recovery is not smooth,” the ship operator said.
The company posted an $83 million operating loss, compared with $208 million in operating profit in the first half of 2010. Revenue fell to $2.2 billion from $2.36 billion.
The company said low rates, weak demands and high oil prices hit most of the company’s routes. Container volumes fell 3.3 percent to 3,436,000 20-foot equivalent container units.
Trans-Pacific volume fell 9.9 percent to 597,393 TEUs, while Europe-Mediterranean volume fell 11 percent to 533,089. Asia-Australia-New Zealand volume tumbled 11.5 percent to 623,180 TEUs. Intra-China services rose 5.8 percent to 1.6 million TEUs,while other services rose 15.6 percent to 43,016 TEUs.
-- Contact Joseph Bonney at jbonney@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @josephbonney.
