COSCO Swings Back to Profit

zoom After three years of losses, Chinas shipping conglomerate China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO) managed to swing back to profit in 2014. The companys chairman Ma Zehua told Xinhua news agency that the Groups combined profits came in at 5.04 billion yuan (USD 823 million) in 2014 despite the choppy global shipping market. As disclosed by Ma Zenhua, the state-backed conglomerates operational revenues rose 2.02 percent in 2014, and overall costs fell 0.21 percent. In addition, COSCOs asset liability ratio stood at 55.4 percent at the end of last year, down 4.4 percentage points, Xinhua informed. The group has set sights on annual profitability level ranging between 4 percent and 5.5 percent by 2020. Cosco is poised to further build up its fleet with modern eco-friendly units thus replacing the vessels it has scrapped over the past few years. The shipping and logistics giant has signed a USD 1.75 billion loan facility with the Export-Import Bank of China to fund 53 newbuildings. The loan will be used to finance newbuilding orders at Chinese shipyards, including a 90,000 dwt semi-submersible ship, 9,400 TEU container ships, 300,000 dwt tankers,  and bulk carriers. World Maritime News Staff