A PEDESTRIAN walks past Neptune Orient Lines Ltd. headquarters in Singapore two weeks ago. Neptune Orient Lines Ltd. and Cosco Corp. Singapore Ltd. led declines among Asian shipping lines on concern surging oil prices will boost fuel costs. Neptune Orient, operator of Southeast Asia’s biggest container line, fell 8.2 percent to S$3.47 at the close of trading in Singapore. Cosco Singapore dropped 7.8 percent to S$4.27. --Bloomberg

HONG KONG—Neptune Orient Lines Ltd. and Cosco Corp. Singapore Ltd. led declines among Asian shipping lines on concern surging oil prices will boost fuel costs.

Neptune Orient, operator of Southeast Asia’s biggest container line, fell 8.2 percent to S$3.47 at the close of trading in Singapore. Cosco Singapore dropped 7.8 percent to S$4.27. China Cosco Holdings Ltd., Asia’s second-biggest container line, lost 5.7 percent to HK$22.25 in Hong Kong.

Crude oil rose 4.5 percent to close at $100.01 Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the first time it has closed above $100 a barrel. Fuel accounts for about 30 percent of Asian container-shipping lines’ costs, according to Roslyn Ji, an analyst at Core Pacific-Yamaichi International Ltd. in Hong Kong.

“Higher oil prices are negative to shipping,” said Ji. “It will eat into their profits.”

The price of 380 Centistoke Bunker, fuel used by ships, has risen 71 percent in the past year in Singapore. It added 1.3 percent to $487.50 a ton Wednesday. (Bloomberg)

Agency to seek dismissal of port case again

THE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) will try to convince a Manila court for the second time that a case filed by a joint-venture company regarding the Manila North Harbor privatization should be dismissed.

HONG KONG—Neptune Orient Lines Ltd. and Cosco Corp. Singapore Ltd. led declines among Asian shipping lines on concern surging oil prices will boost fuel costs.

NEW YORK—Interest rates on $100 million of bonds issued by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey were set at 8 percent in a weekly auction run by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. after surging to 20 percent on February 12.

LONDON—The cost of shipping Middle East crude to Asia, the world’s busiest route for supertankers, may advance a seventh day as owners await an increase in March cargoes and demand for smaller vessels rises.

LONDON—The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of shipping costs for commodities, dropped 3.2 percent in London for its sharpest decline in almost a month as reduced coal production from Australia cut cargoes.