ASIA’S third-largest container-terminal operator Cosco Pacific Ltd. boosted second-half profit 81 percent, helped by surging shipments of Chinese-made toys, furniture and clothing to Europe and the US.

Net income rose to $279.3 million from $154.7 million a year earlier. The figure was derived by subtracting first-half results from full-year earnings released by the Hong Kong-based company today.

Cosco Pacific follows larger rivals Hutchison Port Holdings Ltd. and PSA International Pte. in posting higher earnings after it added more terminals and a 26-percent jump in Chinese exports last year boosted global sea-cargo traffic.  A U.S. housing slump and China’s attempts to cool its economy may damp trade this year.

“The company will have to make more acquisitions to keep up its growth rate,” said Jimmy Lam, a Hong Kong-based analyst at BOC International Holdings Ltd. “The rate of trade growth may slow slightly this year.”

Cosco Pacific boosted its container volume 22 percent last year to 39.8 million, helped by the addition of terminal ventures in the Chinese ports of Ningbo and Guangzhou, as well as in Egypt. Traffic growth slipped to 19 percent in the first two months of this year.

The company, a unit of China Cosco Holdings Co., has stakes in 16 terminal ventures in China and Hong Kong, as well as three more overseas.

Full-year Profit

FULL-YEAR earnings rose 47 percent to $427.8 million, Cosco Pacific said in a stock-exchange statement.

Net profit from the container-terminal business rose 28 percent to $128.3 million, according to the statement. Sales, mainly derived from container-leasing, were little changed at $298.9 million.

China’s export growth dropped to 6.5 percent in February, the slowest pace in almost six years, as the government tightened lending and new home sales in the US tumbled to the lowest annual pace in more than a decade.

Cosco Pacific, a Hang Seng Index company, has dropped 19 percent this year in Hong Kong, trailing the benchmark index’s 12-percent decline. The stock rose 5.4 percent to HK$16.86 at the 12:30 p.m. trading break, before the earnings announcement.

Parent China Cosco, the world’s second-largest shipping company by market value, fell 0.2 percent to HK$19.96.

Hutchison Port, controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing, boosted earnings before interest and taxes 13 percent last year, parent Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. said on March 27. Net income at PSA International, controlled by Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pte, rose 59 percent, helped by the sale of units. (Bloomberg)

Subic port eyes higher noncontainerized throughput

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Aside from a 30-percent growth in ship calls at the port of Subic in 2008, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) expects a significant increase in bulk and break-bulk commodities, heavy- lift cargo and transshipments to be handled here this year.

THE Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) has thumbed down the petition of another group of customs brokers to review the status of the accreditation of Chamber of Customs Brokers Inc. (CCBI) in a bid to determine if it still enjoys the support of the practitioners.

ASIA’S third-largest container-terminal operator Cosco Pacific Ltd. boosted second-half profit 81 percent, helped by surging shipments of Chinese-made toys, furniture and clothing to Europe and the US.

WORKERS at Indonesia’s sole state-owned port operator Pelindo may begin an open-ended strike today to try and scupper a bill to end the company’s monopoly, potentially disrupting trade from Southeast Asia’s largest economy.