Transport | Logistics Frieight News: China Cosco Holdings Co., Asia’s largest shipping line by market value, returned to profit in the first half as an economic rebound revived rates for hauling commodities and containers. Net income of 3.45 billion yuan ($507 million) compared with a loss of 4.6 billion yuan a year earlier, the company said in a statement late yesterday, citing international accounting standards. China Shipping Container Lines Co. reported a 1.17 billion yuan profit, compared with a year-earlier net loss. China’s largest freight operators of container vessels both ended 18 months of losses as U.S. and European retailers boosted imports of Asian-made toys, furniture and clothes after last year’s recession.

Freight Forwarding Australia:
China Cosco, the nation’s largest operator of dry-bulk ships, also benefited from a 49 percent jump in commodity-freight rates as China’s economic growth stoked demand for raw materials. “China is restocking iron ore and coal again and this is triggering the rise in dry-bulk rates,” Allen Wong, an analyst at Quam Ltd. in Hong Kong, said before the earnings. “Container demand has been robust this year and growth may be sustained into the second-half, keeping rates at high levels.” China Cosco’s sales rose 56 percent to 45.5 billion yuan. Dry-bulk revenue surged 51 percent to 16.8 billion yuan. The company, with a fleet of 449 commodity ships, had bookings for 70 percent of 2010 operating days as of June 30. Container Volumes The company’s container fleet, China’s largest, had a 25 percent increase in first-half volumes. Transpacific cargoes grew 52 percent, with an 88 percent jump in revenue. Asia-Europe shipments rose 9.9 percent, with revenue more than doubling. China Shipping Container’s cargo-box volumes rose 12 percent.

Australian | China Freight Forwarding Quotes
Sales jumped 80 percent to 16 billion yuan.Major U.S. retail container ports will likely handle 15 percent more boxes this year than in 2009 as shops rebuild inventories run down during the recession,according to the Washington-based National Retail Federation. China Cosco, controlled by China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co., fell 0.7 percent to HK$8.60 in Hong Kong yesterday, before the earnings announcement. China Shipping Container, a unit of China Shipping (Group) Co., fell 1.7 percent to HK$2.85. The shipping line has gained 1.8 percent this year, compared with China Cosco’s 10 percent decline. China Cosco’s container-terminal unit Cosco Pacific Ltd. reported an 82 percent jump in profit earlier this week, helped by rising volumes. The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of commodity-shipping costs, averaged 3,163 in the first half, compared with 2,118 a year earlier. China, the world’s biggest buyer of iron ore, boosted imports by 4.1 percent in the period, according to customs data.