Bruce Barnard, Special Correspondent | Aug 15, 2012 11:31AM EDT
APM Terminals profit dipped to $160 million in the second quarter from $162 million a year ago as double-digit growth in container traffic in West Africa and Asia was offset by declines across its European network.
The port’s operating arm of Denmark’s A.P. Moller-Maersk booked a modest increase in revenue to $1.19 billion in the three months to June 30 from $1.15 billion in the 2011 quarter.
Volume increased by 7 percent, outpacing estimated market growth of 5 percent, to 9.1 million 20-foot-equivalent units from 8.4 million TEUs. Excluding the impact of changes in the company’s terminal portfolio, volumes increased by 5 percent.
Operations in terminals in North Africa, the Middle East and Europe that were affected by local political unrest or labor disputes improved during the quarter, the Netherlands-based company said.
APM launched a “global transformation program” during the quarter to apply local best practices across its global network to boost productivity and cut costs by $200 million over five years.
First half profit grew to $573 million from $513 million, revenue rose to $2.4 billion from $2.2 billion and traffic was up 9 percent at 17.6 million TEUs.
Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.
