HPH Trust Sees Slight Drop in Revenue, Volumes

The Singapore-listed container port business trust Hutchison Port Holdings Trust (HPH Trust) ended 2016 with its revenue and other income at HKD 11.9 billion (USD 1.5 billion), representing a drop of 5.6 percent from the previous year’s HKD 12.6 billion (USD 1.6 billion).

The container throughput of HPH’s Hong Kong terminals HIT decreased by 6.2% as compared to the same period in 2015, mainly due to weaker intra-Asia and transshipment cargoes, while the Yantian International Container Terminal (YICT) handled 3.9% less containers as compared to the same period in 2015, driven by lower empty and transshipment cargoes but partially offset by the growth in US and EU cargoes.

Combined throughput of HIT, COSCOHIT and ACT dropped 8% year-on-year.

The average revenue per TEU for Hong Kong was in line with last year. For China, the average revenue per TEU was below last year, mainly due to RMB depreciation, according to the company.

In addition to the economic performances of the US and Europe, HPH Trust’s performance is also impacted by the outcomes of the structural consolidation within the container shipping industry.

“Shipping lines continue to deploy mega-vessels to achieve economies of scale, reform their carrier alliances to improve efficiency, control costs and expand the coverage of vessel-sharing schemes to enhance competitiveness as seen by the recent announcement by Japan’s big three shipping groups, Kline, MOL and NYK to merge their container shipping businesses,” HPH Trust said.

Given the uncertainty around global trade outlook, the company added that its management “remains cautious” on the expected cargo volume for 2017 and will continue to focus on better cost control through improvements in productivity and efficiency.