In the second quarter of this year, the Chinese shipping group COSCO Shipping Holdings Co. has seen further improvement financial and operating performance which, in the core business containerized maritime transport, as well as for other major world companies in the sector, has been produced by a generalized progression of results in all main markets with the exception of cargo volumes transported by the fleet, that of shipments between Asia and Europe suffering from both the weakening of the European economy and the of the consequences of the diversion of scheduled maritime services around Africa to avoid crossing the region of the Red Sea where Houthi attacks on traffic follow one another naval.

In the April-June period of 2024, the revenues of the Chinese group amounted to 52.9 billion yuan ($7.4 billion), with a marked increase of +19.0% over the same period of which 50.9 billion yuan (+19.6%) were generated from containerized maritime transport activities only. In particular, the maritime services operated by the group on the Transpacific Alliances generated revenues of 15.2 billion yuan (+52.5%), of which €8.6 billion (+60.3%) deriving from the of the ships of the wholly owned subsidiary COSCO Shipping Lines, routes on which the volumes of containers transported amounted to 1.2 million TEUs (+7.4%), of which 682 thousand TEUs (+6.9%) transported by COSCO Shipping Lines. Services between Asia and Europe, which in the quarter transported 915 thousand TEUs (-20.1%) of of which 564 thousand TEUs (-21.9%) transported by COSCO Shipping Lines, produced revenues of more than 9.9 billion yuan (+13.7%), of which 6.5 billion (+8.3%) produced by COSCO Shipping Lines' services. The intra-Asian maritime services generated revenues of 12.2 billion yuan (+10.8%), of which 7.6 billion (+15.0%) produced by COSCO Shipping Lines, and in the second quarter of this year they transported cargo volumes of almost 2.2 million TEUs (+11.4%), including 1.3 million TEUs (+14.8%) transported by COSCO Shipping Lines. On Chinese domestic routes, the total volumes, entirely transported by COSCO Shipping Lines ships, they are of over 1.4 million TEUs (+34.9%) and the revenues generated from this business they totaled nearly 3.0 billion yuan (+0,2%). On other international routes, the volumes transported were They stood at 708 thousand TEUs (+6.4%), of which 586 thousand TEUs (+8.9%) transported by COSCO Shipping Lines, and the related revenues were amounted to nearly 7.0 billion yuan (+5.6%), including 6.1 billion yuan (+14.2%) contributed by COSCO Shipping Lines.

In the second quarter of this year, the Chinese group recorded an operating profit of 10.9 billion yuan (+31.6%), with a contribution of €10.1 billion (+27.0%) from containerized sea freight. Net profit was €11.6 billion (+4.3%), of which €10.0 billion (+9.3%) from shipping containerized.

In the second quarter of this year, the terminal facilities of the Chinese group, which are operated by the COSCO Shipping Ports, have handled a traffic Containerized record of more than 28.4 million TEUs ( of 22 July 2024) and this activity generated revenues of 2.7 billion yuan (+5.5%).

In the first half of 2024, the revenues of the COSCO Shipping group Holdings Co. amounted to a total of 101.2 billion yuan, with an increase of +10.2% on the first half of last year year, of which €97.4 billion (+10.4%) generated by the shipping and 5.1 billion (+5.0%) from terminals. Group operating profit was 19.0 billion (+5.1%), with a contribution of 18.3 billion (+6.0%) from the shipping and 828.0 million (-11.2%) from terminal (-11.2%). Net profit amounted to 19.2 billion (-2.1%), with a contribution of 16.3 billion (-2.7%) from the container fleet and 1.2 billion (-5.0%) from containers port terminals.

In the first six months of this year, the container ship fleet of the Chinese group transported cargoes of 12.5 million TEUs (+9.3%), of which 8.8 million TEUs (+12.7%) were transported by ships of COSCO Shipping Lines.

Meanwhile, the Chinese group announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary COSCO (Cayman) Mercury Co. has ordered from the shipbuilding company Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry (Yangzhou) Co., which is wholly owned by the same COSCO group, the construction of 12 container ships dual-fuel of 14,000 TEUs that can be powered by methanol. The contract has a total value of 2.15 billion dollars providing for an investment of 179.5 million for each ship. The delivery of the 12 units is scheduled between May 2027 and March 2029.