No Signs of Improvement in Container Rent Seen: Cosco Pacific

Cosco Pacific said it has seen no signs of a pick-up in the container leasing market, as oversupply continues to haunt the liner industry.

Executive director Feng Jinhua said that the container leasing business has showed a down trend since 2012 and hovered at a low level. The rent level in the first quarter saw a slight decrease as compared to the same period of last quarter, and no signs of improvement have been sen so far.

A turnaround of the down trend is hard to be seen in the short term, Feng predicted.

However, the fir said it will continue to look for opportunities to buy ports overseas following a "One Belt and One Road" policy.

Vice chairman Qiu Jinguang said the firm will acquire ports, especially those in the neighborhood of its existing ports in Southeast Asia, mid-Asia and the Mediterranean.

He said the firm had not been affected by China's tumbling exports and imports in April as its ports are distributed across the world.

Throughput at the port of Hong Kong in March fell 13.5 percent to 1.63 million 20-foot equivalent units from 1.88 million in the previous corresponding period. This is the third consecutive month of declines and has resulted in an overall drop for the first quarter of 8.1 percent to 4.88 million teu.