China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES) has posted stronger results for the first quarter, with higher profit from oil and LNG shipping more than offsetting lower income from roro and bulker business.
The Shanghai-listed unit of state conglomerate China Merchants Group achieved net profit of CNY 281m for January-March, compared with net profit of CNY 150m in the same period of 2018.
Revenue rose to CNY 3.14bn from the year-ago level of CNY 2.33bn.
“International tanker markets were strengthening compared to the first quarter of 2018…[But] domestic and international bulker trades faced dismal market conditions,” CMES said in a quarterly report.
The company’s oil tanker fleet recorded net profit of CNY 257m, versus the year-ago loss of CNY 66m.
Net profit from its bulker fleet amounted to CNY 4.65m, down 67.3% year-on-year.
With fleet expansion of China LNG Shipping, a joint venture between CMES and Cosco Shipping Energy Transportation, investment income of CMES reached CNY 64.8m in the first quarter—106% higher than the level seen in the year-ago period.
However, the ro-ro unit of CMES booked a net loss of CNY 9.69m from the year-ago profis of CNY 11.2m, with bearish car market conditions, according to the report.
CMES owns a fleet 91 vessels totalling 24.8 million dwt in operation and three ships with 930,000 dwt on order, according to Clarksons. It is the world’s largest VLCC owner.
