Wisdom pretax profit up on freight rates, demand

IN THE BLACK:
The firm said bulk shipping rates would likely continue to rise in the second half, and overall capacity would not catch up to demand in the next two years

• By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporter

Wisdom Marine Lines Co (慧洋海運) yesterday reported a pretax profit of NT$1.56 billion (US$55.88 million) for last quarter, compared with a net loss of NT$301 million a year earlier, attributing it to higher freight rates and more demand for bulk cargo amid a global economic recovery.

Its second-quarter pretax profits were 74 percent higher than the NT$896 million it reported in the first quarter, company data showed.

Earnings totaled NT$3.3 per share for the first six months.

Photo: Wang Yi-hung, Taipei Times

Wisdom, the nation’s largest dry bulk shipper, saw its revenue grow 59.5 percent year-on-year to NT$4.34 billion in the April-to-June period, which was also more than the NT$3.53 billion it posted in the first quarter.

“China’s and the US’ … infrastructure plans, as well as other countries’ restored economic activities, led to an increase in demand for transportation of commodities, while the unsolved congestion at the world’s major seaports amid ongoing disinfection measures contained the growth of supply,” Wisdom said in a statement.

“As a result, the demand-over-supply situation spurred the cargo rates to advance,” it said.

The average freight rate of Wisdom’s vessels climbed to about US$30,000 per day as of the end of last month, 50 percent higher than the average of US$20,000 it registered in the first quarter, the company said.

Wisdom said it expects bulk shipping rates to continue rising in the second half of this year, citing healthy demand.

It predicted that overall capacity would not catch up to demand in the next two years as the International Maritime Organization (IMO) plans to implement stricter rules to reduce the carbon intensity of international shipping from 2023.

The IMO last month adopted two new measures, the Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index and Carbon Intensity Indicator, to gauge ships’ carbon-reduction efforts and performance, Wisdom said.

“As ship owners prepare to comply with the new regulations, it is foreseeable that many shippers would retire their aged vessels in advance, which would cut overall capacity,” Wisdom said.

In the first six months of this year, Wisdom retired seven vessels while taking delivery of six new ones to raise its overall fuel efficiency, it said.

Meanwhile, the company’s board of directors last month approved a proposal to buy three Kamsarmax-type vessels which produce lower carbon emissions and each can carry 82,400 deadweight tonnes from Tsuneishi Group Zhoushan Shipbuilding Inc (常石集團造船), at a total cost of less than NT$2.8 million.

The three new vessels would be delivered in 2023 and 2024, it said.