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ANYTIME
this year, publicly-listed Lorenzo Shipping Corp. (LSC)
will acquire a secondhand container carrier but it will
also dispose of an older vessel to improve its
efficiency.
Doris
Magsaysay-Ho, the company’s chairman, told reporters
that the vessel to be acquired, a previously-owned ship,
which can carry 350 twenty-foot metal boxes, will be the
newest in its fleet.
“We will
be replacing one of Lorenzo’s ships but maintain the
fleet to seven,” Magsaysay said at the sidelines of the
company’s stockholders’ meeting Tuesday.
In its
disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE)
Tuesday, Lorenzo Shipping said that it agreed to
purchase a vessel from the Black Tetra Shipping of Malta
last June 1 using loans to be obtained from Equitable-PCI
Bank. The said vessel, worth $8.3 million, was built in
1996 and weighs 5998 deadweight tons.
Since
last year, the company already announced intentions to
acquire two previously-used cargo vessels that will
replace its older ships, four of which are being dry
docked.
Magsaysay said the company’s focus this year will be to
achieve operational efficiency on all its vessels but at
the same time, serving its existing routes.
“The
vessels’ onboard computers will be upgraded and
installed with low-cost wireless devices for direct,
faster, and more reliable exchange of information on
vessel positions, parts and services requirements,
preventive maintenance and repairs,” she said at the
company’s annual report.
Magsaysay said their prospects for the rest of the year
were good but government, through the Philippine Ports
Authority, should do it part in cutting shipping costs
by upgrading the country’s facilities.
She said
the company is keenly watching the way the PPA handles
the privatization of the Manila North Harbor, where most
of Lorenzo’s vessels dock.
She
neither denied nor confirmed if she or the group she
represents are interested in managing the harbor, which
is currently up for bidding.
“We need
to make this port modernized. How can Manila not be
modernized… You cannot even get a big ship to dock
there,” she said.
Lorenzo
Shipping’s net income for the first quarter of the year
nosedived by 80 percent to P3.7 million for the period
from last year’s P18.33 million after the company
reduced the trips of its vessels.
Meanwhile, net revenue from freight operations decreased
by 14 percent to P278.36 million from the previous
P324.62 million, while its operating expenses, though
lower by P10.42 million for the period, was still high
at P276.11 million.
The
company was founded in 1972 by Go Family with the main
business of inter-island cargo handling, including
containerized cargo.
The
company operates a fleet of seven vessels, deployed
mostly in the Visayas and Mindanao, with a carrying
capacity of anywhere between 200 to 400 metal boxes and
with a speed of 11 knots to 15 knots.
Shares
of LSC closed at P1.14 each, unchanged from Monday’s
trading. |
