Korean shipper chalks up highest quarterly profit
South Korea’s flagship carrier HMM racked up a record profit during the first quarter of this year as the cargo demand continues to outstrip supply across the world amid the virus pandemic.The Seoul-based shipping company announced on May 14 that its first-quarter operating profit stood at 1.02 trillion won ($900 million), which is bigger than its full-year 2020 profit of 981 billion won.This starkly contrasts to the first three months of last year when the company suffered a loss of 2 billion won. Its January-March sales also almost doubled .HMM, formerly Hyundai Merchant Marine, also saw container-handling volumes increase almost 7 percent year-on-year to achieve the highest quarterly performance since its foundation in 1976.As COVID-19 shows few signs of abating, the shipping demands remain strong. That is especially the case for Korea, which accommodates such large-sized exporters as Samsung, LG, SK, and Hyundai.To deal with the upsurge in demand, HMM said that it had deployed up to 24 extra-loader vessels since last August.Against this backdrop, the freight rates jumped in an unprecedented way to underpin the handsome bottom lines of HMM, which is owned by Korea’s state-run lender KDB.“HMM is expected to chalk up solid profits throughout the third quarter of this year,” Daishin Securities utilities analyst Yang Ji-hwan said.Korea Investment & Securities researcher Choi Go-woon concurred. In particular, he expected that the recent Suez Canal fiasco will further improve its profitability in the second quarter.The Suez Canal was blocked in March and April because a big-sized container was wedged. The accident ended up raising the cargo fares across the globe.이 기사를 공유합니다
Kevin Chung
(jumphigher55@aol.com)