Profits up 7.1% at SITC

The ocean carrier and logistics provider attributed the growth to increases in shipping volume and the group’s freight forwarding business.    Net profits at SITC International Holdings Company Limited increased 7.1 percent to $121.1 million for the fiscal year 2014, compared with 2013.
   Revenues for the ocean carrier and logistics provider increased 8.7 percent year-over-year to $1.38 billion in 2014. The company attributed the increase primarily to higher shipping volumes and the growth of its freight forwarding business.
   SITC’s sea freight logistics unit saw revenues increase 9 percent to $1.06 billion and profits grow 3.6 percent to $51.3 million in 2014. The carrier increased container shipping volume 4.8 percent, from 1,981,576 TEUs in 2013 to 2,077,335 TEUs in 2014, while average container shipping freight rates increased from $486 per TEU in 2013 to $500 per TEU in 2014. SITC also expanded its bulk charter fleet, which resulted in an $11.6 million increase in the day bulk chartering income.
   Revenues from group’s land-based logistics business, which includes freight forwarding, shipping agency, depot and warehousing, trucking and ship brokerage services, increased 7.6 percent to $786.1 million for the year and profits were up 13.7 percent to $66.3 million.
   The company’s freight forwarding and shipping agency segments increased revenues 7.2 percent to $754.0 million in 2014, thanks to 4.1 percent growth in freight forwarding volume to 1,593,001 TEUs and an increase in average freight forwarding rates in 2014.
   Revenues of SITC’s other land-based logistics businesses increased 17.6 percent to $32.1 million for the year.
   In addition to providing third party transportation and logistics solutions, SITC operates a fleet of 32 self-owned and 35 chartered container vessels with total capacity of 78,478 TEU, covering 53 major ports in the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”), Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.