Staff reporter
Wisdom Marine Lines Co (慧洋海運) yesterday reported a monthly decline in revenue and pretax profit for last month due to reduced demand amid the Lunar New Year holiday and lower shipping rates.
The nation’s largest bulk shipper registered revenue of NT$1.93 billion (US$69.37 million) and pretax profit of NT$865 million for last month, down 6.3 percent and 22 percent respectively from a month earlier, it said.
Demand for bulk shipping dropped before the Lunar New Year holiday, contributing to the revenue decline, the company said.
Supply disruptions and demand for iron ore also affected its business, it said, adding that heavy rain forced miners in Brazil to halt operations last month, while China placed restrictions on iron output to improve air quality ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
The Baltic Dry Index, which tracks the shipping rates of all types of ships, continued to slide last month, closing at 1,381 points at the end of last month, compared with 2,217 points at the end of December last year and a peak of 5,000 points in October.
However, Wisdom Marine said that the factors driving down freight rates should not last long and it still holds an upbeat outlook for shipping rates this year due to ongoing congestion at seaports worldwide and a low turnover of vessels.
On an annual basis, Wisdom’s revenue rose 71.3 percent and its pretax profit jumped 350 percent, as freight rates remained relatively stable in the first half of last year, company data showed.
Pretax earnings per share were NT$1.16 last month, up from NT$0.26 a year earlier, data showed.
Wisdom last month took delivery of two new vessels — a handysize ship with deadweight tonnage of 37,000 and a Panamax vessel with deadweight tonnage of 82,400 — raising its fleet size to 136 and maintaining its title as Taiwan’s largest bulk shipper, it said.
For this year, the company said it is on track to adjust the contracts of 60 of its vessels and plans to increase shipping rates in new contracts by 25 percent.
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