EVERGREEN UNIT IN THE RED FOR FIRST SIX MONTHS

EVERGREEN UNIT IN THE RED FOR FIRST SIX MONTHS    Evergreen Marine Corp. (Taiwan) Ltd., the stockmarket-listed arm of Taiwan’s Evergreen group, moved into the red in the first half of the year, with a post-tax loss of NT$377 million (U.S.$7 million).
   The deficit compares with a net profit of NT$303 million in the first half of 2001.
   Evergreen Marine Corp. (Taiwan) Ltd. — which is only one part of the Evergreen shipping group — said that its lower first-half result reflects poor market conditions, but said that a second-half recovery is predicted.
   The Taiwanese company said that its first-half loss was “largely as a result of the depressed state of the global container shipping market,” but forecast that it would make “a modest profit” for the year 2002 as a whole.
   Sales revenues fell by 22 percent in the first half, to NT$6.9 billion ($201 million), from NT$8.8 billion in the corresponding period of 2001. Evergreen said that the decrease came from reducing the size of the owned fleet of    Evergreen Marine Corp. (Taiwan), and from the weakness of the South America trades, which provide the principal employment for the company’s fleet.
   The company’s non-operating income dropped sharply, to NT$656 million ($19 million), from NT$1.8 billion. Profits from profits from ship sales and currency exchange earnings booked in 2001 were not repeated this year.
   Non-operating expenses were virtually halved, falling to NT$759 million ($22 million), from NT$1.4 billion, thanks mainly to a sharp reduction in investment losses at affiliated companies such as EVA Air.
   The company has not published its operating income for the first half of the year.
   Evergreen Marine Corp. (Taiwan) president Arnold Wang said that things are looking much better for the second half of the year:
   'Recent freight rate increases are holding and, as is normal in the second half of the year, cargo volumes are increasing,” he said.
   Evergreen Marine Corp. (Taiwan) Ltd. said that results in the second will benefit from the sale of two 3,600-TEU ships in August; improved profits for associated companies such as EVA Air; and improving freight rates.
   Evergreen Marine is the latest major containership company to have published a sharp reduction in profits for the first six months of this year. Hapag-Lloyd, CP Ships, P&O Nedlloyd and Orient Overseas (International) Ltd. — the parent of OOCL — have already posted substantially lower first-half results.