Hanjin liner lost $474 million in 2011

   The ocean carrier Hanjin Shipping said Monday its liner business sustained $474.8 million in operating losses in 2011, a huge reverse on the $612.1 million the line made in 2010.
   Hanjin’s liner revenue fell 2.6 percent year-on-year in 2011, to $6.6 billion, despite container volume rising 12.4 percent to 4.2 million TEUs.
   The company as a whole saw operating losses of $425.3 million, while total revenue fell 1.1 percent, to $8.2 billion. Profits from Hanjin’s bulk division rose 4.9 percent to $46.2 million, but for every dollar of bulk revenue, Hanjin had nearly $5 of container revenue.
   In the fourth quarter, Hanjin’s container losses reached $153.9 million. In the corresponding quarter in 2010, Hanjin had profits of $95.9 million. Fourth quarter liner revenue fell 3.5 percent to $1.6 billion, while container volume rose 9.1 percent to 1 million TEUs.
   Hanjin attributed the poor results to increased fuel costs and a drop in container freight rates.
   In 2012, Hanjin said it expects oversupply in the market “due to continuous deployment of mega-sized vessels,” but said it “believes the market will gradually grow stable due to shipping carriers’ efforts to improve profitability.
   “We expect some difficulties this year considering the hike in oil prices and the ongoing uncertainty of the major economies,” the line said. “However, we will continue our effort to return to profitability this year by improving the revenue side and at the same time by rationalizing service network and aggressively addressing the cost side of the business through internal transformation.” — Eric Johnson