China COSCO Expects 5.4% Rise in Container Capacity This Year

BEIJING, May 7 -- China COSCO Holdings Co Ltd, the largest shipping company in the country, forecast that its container capacity will grow by 5.4% this year, Zhang Liang, general manager of the company, said on Tuesday.

Zhang also said that the company's container throughput for this year is expected to increase 7.5% year on year, adding China COSCO will expand business in the rapidly growing markets such as Vietnam to boost its emerging market.

In the first quarter of this year, China COSCO saw its net profit surge 126.4% year on year to RMB 882 million, according to the company.

China COSCO last month announced that its net loss was RMB 7.54 billion last year due to decreasing global trade volume and recession in the shipping market amid the global economic crisis. The company has budgeted RMB 10.2 billion for capital expenditure this year, leas than the RMB 11.6 billion it spent in 2009, according to an earlier report from China Knowledge.