Chinese shipping giant Cosco Shipping Holdings yesterday (31 October) reported a 35 per cent year-on-year increase in revenue for the third quarter and announced plans to raise almost US$2bn through a share placement, according to theloadstar.co.uk.
The company said the new funds would be used to pay the remaining bill for 20 containerships on order.
Cosco recorded group revenue of Rmb67.6bn (US$10.1bn) for the first nine months of the year, following last year’s nine-month loss of Rmb8.1bn with a profit of Rmb5.4bn.
This result came on the back of a 20 per cent improvement in freight rates – both contract and spot – out of China and year-on-year volume growth, theloadstar said.
With the integration of the Cosco and China Shipping container fleets completed last year, and notwithstanding its forthcoming takeover of OOCL, Cosco continues to have one of the fastest-growing fleets in liner shipping, up 11.4 per cent this year to reach 1,837,303 teu capacity across 358 vessels, the report said.
