China Cosco Reports USD 267.5 Million Quarterly Loss

Hong Kong-listed dry bulk and container shipping company and terminal operator China Cosco Holdings Company Limited recorded CNY 1.7 billion (USD 267.5m) net loss in the third quarter of 2015, as compared to CNY 1.62bn profit reported in 3Q2014, driven largely by falling container freight rates and a weak dry bulk market.

The company’s revenue fell 19% to CNY 14.1bn for the period. However, China Cosco managed to stay in black in the first nine months of 2015, recording CNY 188 million net profit for the period, as compared to CNY 654 million net loss reported for the first nine months of 2014.

The shipping volume of the company’s container shipping business in 3Q2015 was 2,490,596 TEUs, a decrease of 0.5% year-on-year. In the first three quarters, China Cosco’s 183 boxships carried 7,284,542 TEUs in aggregate, an increase of 4.18% y-o-y.

The company’s 213 dry bulk carriers transported 38.8 million tons of cargo in the third quarter, a 7.4% decrease over the corresponding period of last year.

The total throughput of container terminal business reached 17,651,269 TEUs, representing an increase of 0.3% as compared to 3Q2014. In the first three quarters, the total throughput of China Cosco’s terminal business reached 51,483,104 TEUs, 2.8% more than in the first nine months of 2014.