Wisdom Marine Lines Co’s (慧洋海運) pretax profit last month soared 36-fold from a year earlier to NT$1.34 billion (US$47.91 billion), as revenue hit a record NT$1.7 billion on the back of higher shipping rates, the company said yesterday.
Third-quarter revenue surged 21-fold from a year earlier to NT$2.68 billion, the nation’s largest dry bulk shipper said in a statement.
Wisdom Marine said it remains upbeat for this quarter, despite power rationing in China.
Amid congestion at seaports, lingering demand and low supply of vessels, the Baltic Dry Index — which reflects the shipping prices of dry goods, such as coal, iron ore or grain, on representative routes — continued advancing last quarter, last month breaking 5,000 points for the first time since 2008.
Wisdom Marine said it expects the bulk shipping business to remain robust this quarter, as it is the peak season for iron ore shipping from Brazil and grain harvest season in North America, and demand for those goods remains strong.
As the US Senate has passed a US$1 trillion infrastructure bill and India is planning to spend US$1.35 trillion on infrastructure, their demand for iron ore would likely increase, Wisdom said.
However, Beijing’s implementation of a power rationing scheme has cast a shadow on the dry bulk shipping sector, as it might slow China’s industrial production and worsen congestion at the country’s seaports, it said.
It remains to be seen if China will increase imports of iron ore from other countries to address the power crisis after it banned imports from Australia earlier this year amid trade tensions, it added.
Meanwhile, Wisdom Marine said it aims to make its fleet wholly eco-friendly and is therefore working on modifying 134 vessels to comply with tighter environmental regulations.
The shipper said that half of its vessels are already fuel-efficient, as well as seven to-be-delivered ships.
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