zoomImage Courtesy: HPH Trust

Although its combined container throughput increased in the third quarter of 2017, Singapore-listed container port business trust Hutchison Port Holdings Trust (HPH Trust) saw a drop in its earnings for the period.

The company’s profit for the three months ended September 30 was down by 16.4 percent and stood at HKD 678.5 million at the end of the period, compared to HKD 812 million reported in the third quarter of 2016. Revenue and other income for the quarter decreased by 1.3 percent to HKD 3.22 billion, from HKD 3.26 billion seen a year earlier.

Combined container throughput of Hongkong International Terminals Limited (HIT), COSCO-HIT Terminals and Asia Container Terminals Limited (ACT) (collectively HPHT Kwai Tsing) increased by 12.8 percent as compared to the same quarter in 2016, primarily due to higher transshipment cargoes and additional throughput from a new customer. The container throughput of Yantian International Container Terminals (YICT) increased by 13.8 percent as compared to the same quarter in 2016, mainly due to growth in the US, Europe, empty and transshipment cargoes.

Average revenue per TEU for Hong Kong and China were below last year mainly attributed to greater volume of concessions offered to certain liners, as well as, certain revision on tariffs following the mergers and acquisitions of some liners.

HPH Trust informed that its profit for the first nine months of 2017 was at HKD 1.61 billion, decreasing by 27.7 percent from HKD 2.23 billion seen in the same period a year earlier. The company’s revenue and other income was down by 2.9 percent to HKD 8.69 billion, against HKD 8.95 billion reported in the corresponding nine-month period of 2016.

Combined container throughput of HPHT Kwai Tsing increased by 6.6 percent for the nine months ended September 30 as compared to the same period in 2016, while container throughput of YICT increased by 7.9 percent.

In a separate announcement, Hutchison Port Holdings Management unveiled its plans to voluntarily wind up a number of dormant wholly-owned subsidiaries as part of the efforts of HPH Trust to rationalise its structure and that of its subsidiaries.

The dormant subsidiaries include Classic Outlook Investments Limited, Keen Source Limited, Senior Win Limited, Southocean Resources Limited, and Tonsan Limited.

The winding-up of these dormant wholly-owned subsidiaries is not expected to have a material effect on the earnings per unit and the net tangible asset value per unit of the group for the financial year ending December 31, 2017, the company informed.