China COSCO reports first quarter loss

China COSCO reports first quarter loss    China COSCO Holdings said it had a net loss attributable to shareholders of 503 million yuan renminbi ($77.5 million) in the first quarter of 2011 compared with a profit of 883 million RMB in the first quarter of 2010.
   The company said first quarter revenue was 16.4 billion RMB ($2.52 billion), 5.6 percent lower than the 17.4 billion RMB in the first quarter of 2010.
   The company noted average container freight and dry bulk rates were lower in the first quarter compared to the same period last year. The average China Container Freight Index was down 4.2 percent from the same period last year and the average for the Baltic Dry Index was down 54.9 percent, COSCO said.
   The company said it moved 1.46 million TEUs in the quarter, 12.1 percent more than in the first quarter of 2010. Volumes on all shipping routes were higher and revenue of the container-shipping segment (excluding the income from vessels chartered out) increased 4 percent to RMB 7.89 billion ($1.21 billion).
   COSCO’s container shipping revenue was higher in all trade lanes except the intra-Asia business.
   In the transpacific trade lane COSCO had revenue of 2.8 billion RMB ($430 million) in the first quarter, up 7.5 percent from the first quarter of 2010. Transpacific volume rose 2.1 percent to 338,000 TEUs.
   As of March 31 the COSCO Group operated 153 container vessels with a total capacity of 626,000 TEUs. It had an order book of 37 container vessels with a total capacity of 305,000 TEUs that will be delivered through 2013.
   The group’s dry bulk shipping business moved 65 million tons in the first quarter, a 2.2 percent drop, but recorded 328.1 billion ton-nautical miles, a 0.6 percent increase.
   As of March 31 the group had 438 dry bulk vessels with capacity of 38.22 million deadweight tons. It had an order book of 16 vessels with 2.26 million dwt.
   The company said its product logistics and project logistics businesses achieved satisfactory growth in the first quarter, with chemical logistics revenue increasing 36 percent and project logistics increased 26 percent.
   The company said its terminals and related business had throughput of 11.46 million TEUs in the first quarter, a 19.5 percent gain over the first quarter of 2010.