Cosco Shipping Energy Transportation (CSET), the tanker arm of state conglomerate China Cosco Shipping, has forecast stronger first-half results on better performances of its crude and LNG shipping divisions.
Unaudited results showed net profit of the Shanghai- and Hong Kong-listed company ranged between CNY 440m ($63.9m) and CNY 500m in the opening six months of 2019, compared with net loss of 216m in the same period of 2018.
“Overall, earnings of crude tankers were higher in the reported period versus the year-ago levels,” CSET said in an exchange filing.
Tonne-mile demand was lifted by an 8.8% year-on-year increase in China’s crude imports and a hike of 1.04-million-barrel-a-day in US exports, according to the company.
“To a large extent, those mitigated the negative factors of Opec production cut and large newbuilding tonnage,” CSET said.
“Some geopolitical events [also] led to several rounds of rate hikes.”
Also, 30 LNG carriers owned by CSET or its joint ventures were in operation as of end-June, compared with 22 a year earlier.
“The profit contribution [from LNG shipping] improved significantly,” the company said.
Vice president Xiang Yongmin earlier expected CSET to have a fleet of 38 LNG carriers by 2020, according to Bloomberg.
The company is due to release its full report for the first half of this year on 30 August.
CSET, one of the world’s largest tanker firms, reported net profit of CNY 428m on revenue of CNY 3.85bn in the first quarter.
In the same period of 2018, the company recorded net loss of CNY 86.5m on revenue of CNY 2.41bn.
