COSCO, China Shipping lose $2 billion in ?09

COSCO, China Shipping lose $2 billion in Æ09    COSCO Container Lines, the container shipping business of the China COSCO Group, posted an operating loss of $1.14 billion in 2009, a staggering drop from the $32 million the container line made in 2008.
   Revenue dropped 39 percent to $4 billion, on container volume that fell 9.6 percent to 5.2 million TEUs. Per TEU revenue fell 36.9 percent to just below $600 per TEU, while costs per TEU fell only 13.2 percent to about $765 per TEU.
   'The group's container shipping and dry bulk shipping businesses suffered a great blow,' the company said in a statement.
   Vessel capacity for the line increased 13 percent in 2009 to 561,038 TEUs. COSCO spent $956 million on containerships in 2009, more than five times the amount the line spent in 2008.
   'However, excluding the chartered-out capacity, capacity of its fleets decreased by 1.7 percent as compared with last year,' the line said. 'In 2009, the group had not placed new orders of vessels. As at the end of 2009, the group had an order book of 54 container vessels with a total capacity of 414,926 TEUs.'
   COSCO forecasts its capacity will rise to 605,091 TEUs in 2010, and to 885,262 TEUs by 2013.
   Meanwhile, COSCO's compatriot carrier China Shipping also saw a dramatic decline in fortunes, the company sustaining a $927 million operating loss in 2009 compared to a profit of $30 million in 2008. Revenue fell 43 percent to $2.9 billion.
   Volume dropped 3.7 percent to 6.7 million TEUs, with average international freight rates falling nearly 40 percent to $588 per TEU.