Revenues last year from the container and bulk divisions hit $8.14bn, up 44.9% from $5.61bn in 2009, while operating profit surged to $535m from a loss of $736m in 2009. Net profit soared to $229m from a massive loss of $1.09bn the previous year, the South Korean firm said in a statement on Friday, Seatrade-asia reports.
Hanjin Shipping's container division saw 52.4% upturn to $6.75bn in total revenue as a result of increased cargo volume and rate recovery in the Trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe trades. The bulk division experienced 17% lift to $1.38bn in revenue due to high cargo volume because of the deployment of new vessels and partial recovery in freight rates.
The volume of containers transported rose by 15.1% year-on-year to 3.7m teu, while bulk volumes went up 23.3% to 59,623 tonnes. Looking into 2011, Hanjin Shipping commented: “For the container division, we expect oversupply to be the biggest challenge considering the continuous uncertainty of the world’s major economies and the deployment of mega-sized vessels scheduled throughout the year.” It added that the bulk market is expected to stay weak due to capacity increase and potential barriers of exporting raw materials.