Neptune Orient Lines has reported a $391m first-half loss and says container shipping remains depressed even if volumes have improved in recent months.
Neptune Orient Lines has reported a $391m first-half loss and says container shipping remains depressed even if volumes have improved in recent months.
NOL"s half-year performance plunged $391m into the red, compared to a $196m profit in the first half of last year.
Showing the impact of the huge slump in container shipping globally, the company"s revenues for the first six months of the year fell 37% to $2.9bn, compared to $4.6bn a year earlier.
?Although volumes and operating performance improved in the latter months of the first half, business conditions remained depressed, and this continued to impact our financial performance,? said NOL chief executive Ron Widdows.
For the first half of the year, container liner arm APL handled 970,000 feu, down 24% on the first half of 2008. The drop in volumes in the second quarter narrowed to 19%, down on the same period in the previous year, with the line handling 489,000 feu.
APL president Eng Aik Meng said there had been an improvement in volumes in June compared to May.
Ulitilisation levels improved from 80% in the first quarter of the year to 87% in the second quarter. However, 15 of APL"s vessels remain either in hot or cold lay-up.
In terms of freight rates, average revenue per feu was $2,277 per feu, compared to an average of $3,014 per feu in the same period a year earlier.
Mr Eng said APL had continued to push for a recovery in freight rates. On the Asia?Europe trade, he said there had been ?good progress? in raising rates, while on the long haul intra-Asia trades, efforts were only ?partial successful? due to overcapacity.
Türkçe karakter kullanılmayan ve büyük harflerle yazılmış yorumlar onaylanmamaktadır.