Joseph Bonney, Senior Editor | Oct 31, 2011 11:20AM EDT
Japanese carrier “K” Line reported a loss of $242.7 million in its fiscal first half, primarily because of container shipping losses in an “adverse” business environment.
“K” Line reported an operating loss of $238.9 million on container shipping on $2.76 billion in revenue. Bulk shipping and tankers also posted losses. “K” Line said its car carrier unit has recovered to normal volume handling since Japan’s March 11 earthquake.
The company said the marine transportation environment “deteriorated overall” in the last six months. It said it expects a group-wide net loss of $417 million for the year ending next March 31, compared with an earlier loss forecast of $391 million, and plans to omit a year-end dividend.
“K” Line has trimmed container ship capacity since the recession’s onset. It said it will continue to adjust North American and European container ship capacity to meet demand but plans to expand intra-Asian services, which continue to grow.
“We anticipate that demand in the container ship segment will remain uncertain for the time being because of financial instability in Europe, sluggish consumer spending, and the slow recovery of unemployment in the United States,” the company said.
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