zoomImage Courtesy: Cosco Shipping Ports

China-based Cosco Shipping Ports Limited delivered improved earnings, accompanied by greater volumes in the third quarter of 2017, driven by the growth of international trade.

Amid improvement in international trade, and the support from shipping alliances and shipping fleets of parent company, the company’s revenue for the three-month period ended September 30, 2017 increased by 8% to USD 155.5 million from USD 144.1 million seen in the third quarter of 2016.

While gross profit increased by 15.2% to USD 56.7 million from USD 49.2 million in the quarter, gross profit margin increased by 2.3 percentage points to 36.5%.

Operating profit surged 55.7% to USD 35.9 million in the period, compared to USD 23.1 million reported a year earlier, as a provision for impairment of USD 10 million on an available-for-sale financial asset was made in the third quarter of 2016.

Additionally, profits from associates jumped by 92% to USD 44.1 from USD 23 million, mainly attributed to profit contribution by Qingdao Port International (QPI).

Similarly, the total throughput of the group’s container terminals increased by 16.6% to 23.1 million TEU for the third quarter, against 19.8 million TEU handled in the corresponding quarter of 2016.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2017, the group’s revenue increased by 2.9% to USD 431.3 million, while gross profit dropped by 0.9% to USD 155.2 million.

The group’s total container throughput for the nine-month period rose 13.5% to 64.8 million TEU from 57.1 million TEU recorded in the first nine months of 2016.