COSCO Shipping Ports said that its revenue for the three months ended 30 September 2018 surged by 62.6% to US$253.0 million. The net profit for the same period rose by 11.8% to US$75.1 million.
The ports operator in a press release also said that the revenue for the nine months ended 30 September 2018 was surged by 73.5% to US$748.4 million where as adjusted net profit rose by 46.6% to US$244.1 million,
For the nine months ended 30 September 2018, the Group’s total throughput increased by 20.6% to 87,518,295 TEU (corresponding period of 2017: 72,575,641 TEU); excluding QPI, the Group’s total throughput increased by 12.8% to 73,168,295 TEU (corresponding period of 2017: 64,885,641 TEU), it said.
Due to slowdown in throughput growth of the Group’s non-controlling terminal companies, for the third quarter ended 30 September 2018, the Group’s total throughput increased by 11.1% to 30,811,695 TEU (3Q2017: 27,744,774 TEU) for the three months.
"Looking ahead to the fourth quarter of the year, both domestic and foreign trades are expected to see the negative impacts by the Sino-U.S. trade tension and the imposed tariffs in Chinese imports by the U.S.. Export expansion in China is likely to taper off when foreign trades are expected to have bigger impact by the trade war," said the release.
As the last quarter of the year is traditionally a low season for port operators, with the macro economy being impacted, growth in throughput volume of the ports should see some slowdown; for COSCO Shipping Ports, impacts mainly will be on non-subsidiaries.
"COSCO Shipping Ports believes that the fourth quarter should provide it with both opportunities and challenges. COSCO Shipping Ports enjoys the unparalleled advantage of getting volume support from the OCEAN Alliance and its parent company; and will continue to maximize the synergies to further enhance throughput growth in the subsidiaries amid the challenging operating environment," it added.
Nantong Tonghai Terminal commenced operation in June, while Abu Dhabi Terminal is scheduled to have trial operation in December.
The Company expects volume of these two terminal companies will continue to grow with the supports. With these two terminals and the subsidiaries, COSCO Shipping Ports should continue to widen the gap between the Company and the peers in terms of throughput growth, and further strengthen its leading position in the market.
