Container shipping giant Cosco Shipping Holdings has seen quarterly profit fall below $1bn for the first time in three years.
Net profit dropped 83% to CNY 5.4bn ($738.8m) for the three months to the end of September, down from CNY 32.3bn ($4.4bn) in the same period last year.
Operating revenue dropped to CNY 42.7bn, down 59.6% compared with the same period last year, according to a company filing.
The Hong Kong and Shanghai-listed company reported blamed “a decrease in operational efficiencies” and lower freight rates.
The sharp drop in profit marks a turning point for Cosco Shipping, which has reaped billions of dollars from its dual container brands.
These are its wholly owned Cosco Shipping Lines and Orient Overseas Container Line, which the company controls through a 71% stake in Orient Overseas International.
The Shanghai-headquartered company reported a fall in profit despite the number of containers transported remaining stable at 6.06m teu.
For the nine months of the year, shipping volumes dropped 5.82% to 17.4m teu.
Revenues from its container shipping division dropped 62% to CNY 37.5bn in the first three quarters, down from CNY 99.4bn in the same period last year.
Net profit of its container division fell to CNY 21.5bn, down from CNY 116bn in the same quarter last year.
Cosco Shipping is controlled by state-owned Cosco Shipping Group and operates 493 container vessels with a capacity of 2.9m teu.
The world’s fourth-largest container carrier operates as a member of the Ocean Alliance in partnership with France’s CMA CGM, Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine and Cosco subsidiary Orient Overseas Container Line.
