CSCL plunges into the red
A SLUMP in box volumes and revenue across all trade lanes led China Shipping Container Lines to plunge into the red in the first half posting a net loss of Yuan3.4bn ($502.6m). The line fell sharply into the red compared to a Yuan708.6m net profit in the same period last year.
Revenue dropped 51.5% to Yuan8.9bn between January and June compared with Yuan18.4bn in the first half last year. Pointing to the fall in revenues chairman Li Shaode said the biggest fall was on services between Asia and Europe and Mediterranean services where turnover fell to Yuan1.7bn in the first half of this year, down from almost Yuan6bn a year earlier. Transpacific services saw revenue crash to Yuan3.1bn, down from Yuan5.6bn a year earlier. Revenue from Chinese domestic services dropped to Yuan1.7bn against Yuan2.7bn last year. Mr Li said the volume of loaded containers dropped 11.4% in the first six months to almost 3.2m teu, against nearly 3.6m teu a year earlier. Asia-Europe and transpacific trades saw the largest slump in box volumes with Asia-Europe posting a 20.5% decline in liftings to 557,547 teu, down from 701,162 teu. The transpacific trades saw a 16.9% fall to 565,307 teu.