Cosco Pacific’s 3Q Profit Falls 49 percent

Cosco Pacific, Asia’s third- largest container-terminal operator, posted a 49 percent drop in third-quarter profit as the global recession damped world trade, Bloomberg reported.

Net income slumped to $40 million from $77.7 million a year earlier, the Hong Kong-based company said in a statement to the city’s stock exchange today. Revenue fell 8.5 percent to $83.4 million.

The company’s container traffic fell 4.2 percent in the period as recessions in the United States and Europe curbed demand for shipments of Asian-made toys, furniture and other goods.

Global volume is now “going up slowly” as the world economy improves, Wei Jiafu, chairman of Cosco Pacific’s parent China Cosco Holdings Co., said earlier this week.

Cosco Pacific handled 11.7 million 20-foot containers in the third quarter. It owns or has stakes in 21 terminal operators, predominantly in China and Hong Kong. The company began operations at its fourth overseas venture, in Piraeus, Greece, on Oct. 1, but that contract is due to be re-negotiated as a result of labor protests.

Contact Peter T. Leach at pleach@joc.com.