China COSCO Holdings Ltd , the country's top shipping conglomerate, posted a record net loss of 10.5 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) for 2011, dented by higher fuel costs and slumping freight rates, Reuters reports. The international shipping industry, which is a barometer of the global economy, was hit last year by a renewed growth slowdown and supply glut, having rebounded in 2010 from billions of dollars in losses in 2009.
State-owned China COSCO's loss was the highest since the company was listed seven years ago and was worse than a consensus forecast for a 5.86 billion yuan loss, from 25 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
It made a restated profit of 6.79 billion yuan in 2010, the company said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday.
For the fourth quarter, it made a loss of 5.7 billion yuan, based on a Reuters calculation from previous reports, and versus 1.14 billion yuan profit for the same period in 2010.
China COSCO, the world's largest bulk cargo fleet operator and the fourth-largest global container shipper, said fuel costs rose 35 percent to 17.2 billion yuan in 2011.
Analysts expect China COSCO, which owns container terminal and box leasing firm COSCO Pacific, to stay in the red this year on rising fuel prices.
China COSCO said the global shipping market remained challenging this year as excessive shipping capacity lingers and bunker prices were expected to rise further, due to the intensifying political situation in Iran.
But there were some signs of improvement.
"Since the beginning of 2012, the freight rates of Europe-Asia routes and Pacific routes have improved," it said.
Freight rates overall in the container market were expected to recover to a "normal" level and the global dry bulk market would pick up again in the second half of 2012, it added.
Global shipping firms have been taking measures such as slow steaming, which reduces fuel consumption, and idling ships to counter rising bunker costs and absorb excess capacity.
Around 5 percent of global container capacity was in lay-up, an industry term for taking vessels out of action, Soren Skou, head of industry leader Maersk Line, said earlier this month.
The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index has risen about 44 percent since early February to 930 points, but is still nearly 50 percent down from the end of 2011.
China COSCO's Hong Kong-listed stock, which lost more than half of its value last year, has rebounded more than 18 percent this year, outperforming a 12 percent rise on the Hang Seng Index.
State-owned China COSCO's loss was the highest since the company was listed seven years ago and was worse than a consensus forecast for a 5.86 billion yuan loss, from 25 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
It made a restated profit of 6.79 billion yuan in 2010, the company said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday.
For the fourth quarter, it made a loss of 5.7 billion yuan, based on a Reuters calculation from previous reports, and versus 1.14 billion yuan profit for the same period in 2010.
China COSCO, the world's largest bulk cargo fleet operator and the fourth-largest global container shipper, said fuel costs rose 35 percent to 17.2 billion yuan in 2011.
Analysts expect China COSCO, which owns container terminal and box leasing firm COSCO Pacific, to stay in the red this year on rising fuel prices.
China COSCO said the global shipping market remained challenging this year as excessive shipping capacity lingers and bunker prices were expected to rise further, due to the intensifying political situation in Iran.
But there were some signs of improvement.
"Since the beginning of 2012, the freight rates of Europe-Asia routes and Pacific routes have improved," it said.
Freight rates overall in the container market were expected to recover to a "normal" level and the global dry bulk market would pick up again in the second half of 2012, it added.
Global shipping firms have been taking measures such as slow steaming, which reduces fuel consumption, and idling ships to counter rising bunker costs and absorb excess capacity.
Around 5 percent of global container capacity was in lay-up, an industry term for taking vessels out of action, Soren Skou, head of industry leader Maersk Line, said earlier this month.
The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index has risen about 44 percent since early February to 930 points, but is still nearly 50 percent down from the end of 2011.
China COSCO's Hong Kong-listed stock, which lost more than half of its value last year, has rebounded more than 18 percent this year, outperforming a 12 percent rise on the Hang Seng Index.