[photopress:China_Shipping_Line.jpg,full,alignright]China Shipping Container Lines will spend $1.36 billion adding eight 13,296 TEU vessels to its fleet by 2012. The Hong Kong-listed line ended the first half of the year in a strong financial position. It reported a jump in first half net profit to $152 million through the robust China trade and the addition of more than 28,000 TEU capacity.
Intra-Asia trade grew 45% over the same period last year, with CSCL handling 627,868 TEU in the first half.
The domestic China market grew 36.7% with 1.1 million boxes.
Three 9,600 TEU vessels were delivered in the first six months, increasing the group’s container capacity to 427,107 TEU.
Li Shaode, CSCL chairman, told investors that China’s throughput had reached 52.53 million TEU, a growth of 24% in the first half.
He said global shipping capacity was set to grow by 15% this year but would be balanced by the offsetting influence of trade imbalances, longer trade routes tying up vessels and emerging markets absorbing excess capacity.
Source: CargoNews Asia