Container terminal operator Cosco Pacific saw net profit soar by 47 percent to US$427.8 million last year due to strong demand for port services and an exceptional gain from a stake sale in Chong Hing Bank.
Cosco Pacific reported a $90.7 million gain from the sale of its 20 percent stake in Chong Hing to sister company Cosco (Hong Kong) Group for $268 million last August.
Earnings from its container terminal business rose 27.5 percent to $128 million. The company's terminals handled 39.8 million TEUs last year, up 21.5 percent on the previous year.
But Cosco Pacific saw a 36 percent decline in profit to $118 million from its container leasing unit, due to the sale of 600,802 containers in 2006, and a further disposal of 135,956 boxes last year. Cosco Pacific is the largest container leasing company in Asia and the fifth largest in the world.
The company said it would continue to invest in port projects on the mainland and overseas, despite concerns about an economic slowdown in the United States. It will increase its berths from
from 140 to 200 by 2010 and is looking at investment in European port projects.
The company expanded its international portfolio last year following its investments in the Suez Canal Container Terminal and Antwerp.
Cosco Pacific said it would invest $605 million in port development at Qingdao, Xiamen, Quanzhou, Yangzhou and the Suez Canal.
Cosco Pacific said the economic slowdown in the US and snowstorms on the mainland had not affected the growth of its terminals.
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