Shanghai-listed Cosco Shipping Co Ltd, the vessel service provision arm of China Ocean Shipping (Group), said yesterday profit attributable to shareholders for the first half will drop 99.5 percent from a year earlier to about US$109,000.
Shanghai-listed Coscol did not provide a reason for the drop, reported China Daily.
Coscol is not the only shipping company in China releasing warnings about a profit slump in the first half.
Shanghai-listed China Shipping Haisheng, a bulk carrier operator, also gave investors an early warning of a first-half loss, without disclosing specific figures. The company reported $4 million in net profit in the first half of 2011.
CSHCL said price drops caused by shipping capacity oversupply are behind the losses.
China's shipping industry is being hit with increasing costs and price drops since last year. Most companies reported huge losses in 2011.
"Due to the slowdown in China's economic growth and overcapacity, we believe 2012 will be a difficult year for dry bulk ship owners," said UBS Securities analyst Jean Rao in a report.
(source from CargoNewsAsia)
