COSCO Pacific earnings rise in 2013

   COSCO Pacific, the container terminal and container leasing arm of COSCO, had a profit attributable to equity holders of $702.7 million in 2013 compared with $342.2 million in 2012, with much of the increase coming from the disposal in May of its 21.8 percent equity interest in China International Marine Containers, one of the leading manufacturers of shipping containers.
   Excluding proceeds from the discontinued operation, 2013 profit was $286.2 million, up 2.1 percent from $280.3 million in 2012.
   Revenue in 2013 was $798.6 million compared with $735.5 million in 2012. Revenue from interests it has in terminals around the world was $445.1 million in 2013, up 13.2 percent from 2012. The increase was mainly attributable to increases at terminals in Piraeus, Greece, as well as Guangzhou and Xiamen, China. Total throughput at terminals COSCO Pacific is involved in was 61.3 million TEUs in 2013, 17.2 million TEUs based on its equity in each of the terminals. That is up about 10 percent from 2012.
   Revenue from the container leasing, management and sale businesses was $347.7 million in 2013, up 3.4 percent from 2012. COSCO Pacific’s container leasing, management and sale businesses are operated and managed by Florens Container Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries.
   The company also noted that, “During the year, both numbers of containers on hire and disposal of returned containers upon expiry of 10-year leases recorded growth, thus leading to an increase in overall revenue. The market price of containers and the overall average utilization rate of the group’s containers, on the other hand, decreased as a result of the weak demand for the container leasing.” Profit therefore decreased by 10.2 percent to $125.3 million from $139.5 million in 2012.
   The size of the company’s container fleet was 1,888,200 TEUs at the end of 2013, up 1.8 percent over the year, making it the fourth-largest container leasing company, with an 11.3 percent market share.