South Korea's Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) has announced its full-year results of 2011, posting a whole-year operating loss of KRW367 billion (US$330 million) in 2011 and a KRW172 billion loss in the fourth quarter.
For its container shipping business, it suffered a full-year operating loss of KRW280 billion and a KRW184 billion loss in the fourth quarter, reported Alphaliner, adding that it was the "worst-ever quarterly result" for the carrier, which was even worse than the losses recorded in 2009.
HMM's dry bulk shipping business also reported an operating loss of KRW21 billion for the fourth quarter. The company's tanker shipping division was the only business unit that saw a profit of KRW34 billion in the last quarter.
The carrier's container liftings was up two per cent last year to 2.96 million TEU from 2.90 million TEU in 2010. The drop was due to a nine per cent reduction in its transpacific liftings. Asia-Europe liftings were up 12 per cent and intra-Asia up 11 per cent.
For recovery, HMM has announced its plan to increase its volumes this year by eight per cent to reach 3.20 million TEU through global sales network expansion and new service development, including a new loop to the Black Sea region as part of the G6 Alliance.
HMM will receive five new 13,100-TEU vessels in the first half of 2012, with deliveries starting in February.
These new mega ships are HMM's largest containerships, which will be deployed to the Asia-Europe services that are jointly run with its G6 Alliance partners, the Shipping Gazette reports. |
