COSCO Chairman Confident Of Returning To Profit In 2013

This 57000 DWT bulk carrier was lauched from Guangdong shipyard in 2011, image: COSCO

HONG KONG, Aug 30 (Reuters) – China’s largest bulk shipper, China COSCO Holdings Co Ltd , is confident of turning a profit for the full year of 2013 after reporting a narrower first-half net loss as the global dry bulk market improves in the second half.

“In the second half, the performance of the dry bulk shipping industry will be better than the first half due to a narrowing gap between supply and demand,” COSCO’s chairman, Ma Zehua, said during a media teleconference on Friday, a day after it reported a first-half net loss of 990 million yuan ($162 million).

He also said the company would control operational costs to improve its financial situation.

The company, controlled by state-owned China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company, has posted losses for two consecutive years, and posting a loss for a third year – ending Dec. 31 – would trigger delisting from the Shanghai stock exchange.

(Reporting by Yimou Lee; Writing by Lee Chyen Yee; Editing by Matt Driskill)

(c) 2013 Thomson Reuters

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