Cosco Corp’s profits slumped by 63% last year hit by higher operational costs. The Singapore-listed shipyard and dry bulk shipowning arm of Cosco reported net profit of S$110.1m ($78m) for 2009 compared to S$302.6m a year earlier. Revenues fell 16.6% to S$2.9bn last year. Cosco Corp said its results were impacted by lower dry bulks shipping rates, lower contribution from shiprepair and shipbuilding, higher operational costs and a “thorny business environment”. “Our group remains cautious about our 2010 outlook given the precarious and imbalanced global economic recovery currently underway,” said Jiang Li Jun vice chairman of Cosco Corp. The company said its shipbuilding business faces a “bumpy road” for the foreseeable future as the sector struggles with a slow recovery. As of the end of 2009 the company had a $5.6bn orderbook.