Wisdom Marine Lines Co Ltd (慧洋海運) reported pretax profit of NT$895.92 million (US$31.51 million) for the first quarter, compared with a net loss of NT$123 million a year earlier, thanks to rising charter rates, the company said on Tuesday.
Wisdom’s first-quarter pretax profit surpassed its net profit of NT$111.41 million for the whole of last year, while its pretax earnings per share were NT$1.2 in the first quarter, higher than earnings per share of NT$0.15 last year, it said in a statement.
Wisdom, the nation’s largest bulk shipper in terms of fleet size, reported NT$1.37 billion in revenue for last month, up 45.9 percent year-on-year and the highest in a single month, it said.
Photo: Wang Yi-hung, Taipei Times
Cumulative revenue rose 26.75 percent annually to NT$3.53 billion in the first quarter.
Higher charter rates, buoyed by recovering demand for bulk shipping, contributed to the momentum, it said.
It has rented foreign shipping companies 70 percent of its 137 vessels through long-term charter arrangements, with the remaining ships used for self-operation or short-term rents, it said.
Wisdom renewed long-term charters for 22 vessels in the first quarter, when charter rates on average rose 34.75 percent, it said.
Charter rates for another 16 ships, which are Panamax and Supramax-sized vessels, are linked with the Baltic Panamax and Supramax indices, which show the daily average price paid for the transport of dry bulk in such vessels, it said.
As the index for Panamax vessels advanced 141 percent from 7,009 points a year earlier to 16,946 points on average in the first quarter, while the Supramax index surged 134 percent to 15,265 points, Wisdom earned more income from the 16 vessels, it said.
The company would renew contracts for another 35 ships by the end of this year, or nine in the second quarter, 20 in the third and six in the fourth, and expects the average charter rates to rise 32.17 percent from a year earlier, it said.
Wisdom has predicted that rates will remain at a comparatively high level, as demand for bulk shipping rises with a recovering global economy and as many countries boost their infrastructure investments, it added.
Declining numbers of vessels on order would also help keep the indices and charter rates high, as it suggested that the capacity would not grow quickly.
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