Wan Hai Lines Ltd (萬海航運) was the only listed container shipping company in Taiwan to post a net profit in the second quarter of the year on the back of its focus on regional routes in Asia, which showed steady growth in trade volume.
Wan Hai, the nation’s third-largest container shipping company in terms of fleet size, outperformed the sector by posting a net profit of NT$426.9 million (US$14.21 million), or NT$0.19 per share, from April to June, the company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The second-quarter results showed a decline from a net income of NT$1.34 billion, or NT$0.61 per share, in the same period last year, company data showed.
However, the company’s focus on the Asian market and shorter intra-regional routes were key factors in helping it maintain profitability in the first half of the year, when its peers, with their higher exposure to long-haul routes, faced tougher headwinds during the same period.
Wan Hai saw net profit reach NT$551.78 million, or NT$0.25 per share, in the first six months of the year, compared with NT$950.11 million, or NT$0.43 per share, recorded a year earlier, company data showed.
The nation’s two other major shipping companies both recorded losses in the second quarter, albeit an improvement from the results in the first quarter.
Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運), the nation’s largest container shipping company, reported consolidated losses of NT$400.54 million in the April-to-June period, or a loss of NT$0.12 per share.
Net losses in the first six months of the year amounted to NT$2.24 billion, or a loss per share of NT$0.64, the company’s stock exchange filing showed.
Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運), the nation’s second-biggest container shipping company, also saw net losses of NT$2.64 billion, or N$0.81 per share, in the second quarter, raising net losses in the first half of this year to NT$5.32 billion, or NT$1.62 per share, company data showed.
However, earlier this week, Yang Ming chairman Frank Lu (盧峰海) said the company may return to the black this quarter, citing the successful move by major global container shippers to raise peak season surcharges in US routes last month.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last