CCNI reports profits, orders boxships

CCNI reports profits, orders boxships Compa''a Chilena Naviera Interoceanica (CCNI), the Chilean shipping line controlled by the Urenda group, has improved its financial results for the first nine months of 2004 and ordered three 3,100-TEU containerships jointly with the German shipowner Peter Dohle
   CCNI earned a net income of $10.4 million for the first three quarters of 2004, as compared to a loss of $3 million loss in the same period of last year. CCNI’s year-to-date revenues were 25 percent higher than in the same period of 2003.
   CCNI said that it increased its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization to $15.4 million in the latest period, representing 4 percent of its revenues.
   The Chilean company expects to report revenues of about $520 million for the year 2004.
   Jointly with the Peter Dohle Schiffahrts group, a shareholder in the company, CCNI has decided to order three 3100-TEU ships for a total cost $141 million. The ships will be built in Polish shipyards. The negotiations are expected to conclude during the next 30 days.
   CCNI said it has implemented a new company strategy and organization.
   In May of this year, CCNI opened a regional office in Hong Kong and in August opened a branch in Shanghai as part of a move to strengthen the company’s direct presence in the market. Today, 20 percent of CCNI’s staff is based outside Chile.
   CCNI is also moving from a divisional organizational structure to a functional organization and has decentralized its commercial operations. The Americas region continues to be the main market of CCNI but, it said, “the tendency has been to globalize operations, undoubtedly emphasizing the area of Asia.”
   CCNI expects that the rate levels reached in 2004 will continue during 2005, supported by the world’s economic growth and that of China in particular.