Joseph Bonney, Senior Editor | Aug 30, 2012 10:24AM EDT
China Cosco Holdings posted an operating loss of 3.7 billion yuan ($579 million) for the year’s first six months. Revenue rose 1.3 percent to $6.8 billion.
The company’s net loss of $767 million for the first half compared with a year-earlier net loss of $435 million.
Cosco said its container unit’s first half revenue rose 14.1 percent to $3.6 billion, while volume increased 16.7 percent to 3.8 million 20-foot-equivalent units. Bulk revenue plunged 32 percent to $1.3 billion.
The company said container shipping competition may intensify this year as more capacity enters the market. Container ship lines “will have less incentive to raise freight rates, and the significant increase in market freight rates in the first half of the year may not be maintained," Cosco said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Contact Joseph Bonney at jbonney@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JosephBonney.