Joseph Bonney | May 12, 2011 11:17AM EDT
Hanjin Shipping lost $28 million on container operations in the first quarter, compared with $23 million a year earlier, as rising fuel costs offset a 19 percent increase in container revenue.
The South Korean carrier’s net loss for the quarter narrowed to $97 million from $111 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 16.9 percent to $1.967 billion.
Hanjin’s container losses eclipsed a $17 million profit on bulk shipping, producing an overall first quarter operating loss for the South Korean carrier of $11 million.
Container revenue rose 19 percent to $1.6 billion. Container cargo volume rose 15.6 percent to 945,301 20-foot-equivalent units. Bulk revenue rose 8.3 percent as cargo volume rose 26.2 percent.
Container volume increased 22.7 percent in the trans-Pacific westbound market. Total volume increased 23.3 percent in the Asia-Europe trade and 39.1 percent on intra-Asia routes. However, revenue was hurt by declining Asia-Europe rates and increased fuel and logistics costs, the company said.
Hanjin said that despite the gradual recovery of the global economy and the approach of the annual peak season, it was concerned about weak U.S. housing and job markets, increased east-west capacity and rising oil prices.
The carrier said it plans “extensive cost-cutting measures” to offset the impact of rising capacity and oil prices.
-- Contact Joseph Bonney at jbonney@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @josephbonney.