LISTED ARM OF CHINA SHIPPING EXPECTS HIGHER PROFIT

LISTED ARM OF CHINA SHIPPING EXPECTS HIGHER PROFIT    China Shipping Development Co., a company of the China Shipping Group listed on the Hong Kong stock market, expects to report higher profits for 2002 after offloading its 25-percent stake in money-losing China Shipping Container Lines.
   China Shipping Development announced last September the transfer of its interest in China Shipping Container Lines to the group parent company, China Shipping Group.
   China Shipping Container Lines, an expansionist container carrier, has been hit by lower rates and industry overcapacity.
   When partly-owned by China Shipping Development, the container carrier caused a loss of about HK$122 million ($16 million) in the listed company’s results for the first six months of 2002.
   “The profit of the company for 2002, as a result of the transfer, is expected to increase by over 50 percent, as compared with that of 2001,” said Ye Yumang, company secretary of China Shipping Development.
   The company said that its 2002 accounts have not yet been audited.