Hyundai Merchant in the Red in Q2
South Korea's Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) suffered an operating deficit of USD 112 million in the second quarter, the company said in a regulatory filing. The third quarter will bring much better results, says the carrier.
Yonhap News Agency said that the company attributed operating loss in the second quarter due to the low season weakening container freight rates.
Sales, however, jumped 22.1 percent on-year to 1.24 trillion won over the cited period when compared to a revenue of KRW 1,016.8 billion seen in the same quarter last year.
“Although revenues increased, which helped narrow the company’s operating loss, freight rates remained low, denting our bottom line,” it said.
Container volume in 2Q rose by 45.5% YoY to 986,022 TEU from 677,540 YEU reported in the three-month period of 2016. Volumes in the US trades climbed by 34.5% and in Intra-Asia by 94.5%.
HMM is projecting there will be a shortage of container carriers on the high-traffic routes from August to October as U.S. customers want more products from China and Southeast Asia.
HMM expects over 100% of loading rate in Asia-US trades after July and is considering deploying extra vessels if necessary.