COSCO PACIFIC REPORTS INCREASE IN PROFITS

COSCO PACIFIC REPORTS INCREASE IN PROFITS    COSCO Pacific Ltd., the Hong Kong-based container leasing and port operating subsidiary of the China Ocean Shipping Co. group, reported an 8-percent increase in net profit for 2001, to US$154 million, despite a fall in the utilization level of its leased-out container fleet.
   Revenue rose by 3 percent, to $225 million, from $218 million in 2000.
   Operating profit before finance costs reached $128 million last year, up from $125 million in 2000.
   COSCO Pacific said that its container leasing fleet increased to 610,019 TEUs at the end of 2001, from 527,982 TEUs a year earlier. Although containers leased to the COSCO group remained 100 percent utilized, COSCO Pacific’s overall container fleet utilization dropped to 91.4 percent last year, down from 95.1 percent in 2000.
   COSCO Pacific reported an increase of 4 percent, to 7.4 million TEUs, in the total port container throughput of its port activities last year. While the company’s port interests in Yantian, Qingdao and Zhangjiagang in mainland China enjoyed high rates of volume growth, COSCO Pacific’s terminal in Hong Kong suffered an 8-percent fall in volume and its Shanghai terminal throughput fell by 11 percent last year.
   COSCO Pacific reported that Yantian International Terminals handled 2.75 million TEUs in 2001, 28 percent more than in 2000.