COSCO Shipping 2007 profit up 84.3%

COSCO Shipping Co<600428>, a Shanghai-listed unit of China's top shipper COSCO Group, posted an 84.3% year-on-year jump in 2007 net profit on surging transport demand buoyed by the booming foreign trade.

Net profit rose to RMB1.07 billion, compared with RMB 583 million a year ago, said the specialized container carrier in a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Its operating revenue soared 38.3% from the previous year to RMB 5.3 billion.

The Guangzhou-based company operates a fleet of 82 vessels, with a total capacity of 1.33 million deadweight tons. Its bulk cargo vessels and multi-purpose vessels both saw an 18% and 5% rise respectively in gross profit last year, together accounting for 73% of the company's main business profit.

Earlier this year, COSCO Shipping issued RMB 1.05 billion of convertible bonds with warrants to finance the construction of two 50,000-ton semi-submersible heavy lift vessels and four multi-purpose vessels with a carrying capacity of 27,000 tons. It also booked eight multi-purpose vessels which are scheduled to start operation as early as 2009.