In the first 6 months of 2021, COSCO Shipping’s net profit increased 32 times compared to the same period last year, reaching $ 5.7 billion. (Photo:   Reuters).

Mr. Xu Lirong, Chairman of Orient Overseas (OOCL), the Hong Kong branch of COSCO Shipping, said that the unprecedented increase in freight rates was caused by many different reasons.

In particular, “port congestion, bad weather, labor disputes, lack of manpower, Suez canal incident, lack of rail transport capacity, lack of containers in important markets, distance at ports , quarantine in the fleet and many other difficulties” is the main reason.

For OOCL alone, revenue for the first half of 2021 more than doubled year-on-year to $6.98 billion and net profit jumped 28 times to $2.81 billion.

The joy of big profits also appeared in other corporations. A.P. Moller-Maersk, COSCO Shipping’s top rival, reported first-half revenue inched about 44% to $26.66 billion, while net profit jumped nearly 10 times to $6.4 billion.

Revenue for Pacific Basin Shipping, a Hong Kong-based dry bulk carrier, rose 68% in the first half to $1.14 billion. Notably, after recording a net loss of $222.4 million in the first half of 2020, Pacific Basin posted a net profit of $160.1 million in the first six months of this year.

Mats Berglund, who stepped down as CEO at the end of July, called it Pacific Basin’s best first half result in 13 years.

Businesses that “follow” also report profits

According to Nikkei, companies operating seaports, logistics services and railways also announced large profits.

COSCO Shipping Ports is managing 357 berths in 36 seaports worldwide. The company said that its first half of 2021 revenue increased 25% to $ 564.9 million thanks to congestion at seaports.

Speaking to reporters, COSCO Shipping Ports President Zhang Dayu said that while mooring costs only make up a small part of the company’s revenue, revenue in “some ports has increased double-digit or even double-digit increases. higher”.

Mr. Zhang wants to seize the new opportunity to direct more cargo to the port of COSCO Shipping Ports in the third quarter. In addition, the chairman also wants to continue to increase the loading and unloading fee in the second half of this year after recording positive results in the first half of the year.

Similarly, revenue of Kerry Logistics Network, a logistics services firm, jumped 68% to $4.71 billion while net profit more than tripled to more than $434 million.

According to Vic Cheung, CEO of Kerry Logistics, seaports around the world that are not blocked are also congested, and difficulties are piling up. When the ports in the route have problems, the company will redirect the container ships to the nearest ports.

Other service providers such as China’s state-owned Sinotrans also benefited from congestion at many seaports around the globe. In the first six months of this year, Sinotrans’s revenue jumped 55% to $9.5 billion and net profit increased 78% to more than $334 million.

Some railway companies have also achieved success, although the increase is not as high as those mentioned above. For example, Guangshen Railway’s revenue inched about 30% to nearly $1.5 billion and net profit reached $661,000. In the first half of last year, the company reported a net loss of $95 million.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, passenger service between Hong Kong and mainland China was interrupted, so Guangshen Railway converted the passenger carriages into freight trains. As a result, freight revenue increased by 35% to nearly $155 million.

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