K Line has slashed its profit forecast for next year by almost 30% as it anticipates a weaker performance by its container ship segment.
The Japanese shipowner made the forecast Monday as it announced a full-year net profit for 2021 of ¥642.4bn ($4.9bn) a near six-fold increase on the ¥108.7bn seen the previous year.
The company said it expected the container ship market to “normalise somewhat” in 2022 due to the easing of supply chain disruptions.
K Line, which has a 31% stake in Ocean Network Express (ONE), expects income from its share of the liner operation to decline almost 32% in FY2022 to ¥425bn.
“Supply chain disruptions are expected to subside from August onward, and the market is expected to enter an adjustment phase,” K Line said.
The shipowner said its forecasts were based on an exchange rate ¥117.70 per dollar. The yen is currently at a 20-year lower against the dollar of ¥130.9.
K Line said each ¥1 difference in the exchange rate, either weaker or stronger, adds or subtracts ¥4.5bn from its full-year estimates, respectively.
Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) slashed its profit forecast for next year by a similar amount just a few weeks ago over fears about an economic slowdown and the impact of the war in Ukraine.
Separately, K Line announced it was moving the ship management of its tanker and gas fleets to Singapore as part of its latest medium-term management plan.
The new company, called K Marine Ship Management, will be led by Shoji Fukuda and is due to start operations in October 2022.
K Line’s fleet includes just fifteen tankers, 11 of which are owned and four are chartered and 43 LNG carriers of which only two are not owned, four LPG carriers and one LNG bunkering vessel.
