Ruben expects the port's TEUs to increase between 8% and 13% this year." (Default Alternate Text: "Ruben expects the port's TEUs to increase between 8% and 13% this year. - Filepic CHAN TAK KONG/THE STAR
KUALA LUMPUR: Westport Holdings Bhd earnings fell 6.9% to RM148.82mil in the second quarter ended June 30, 2017 from RM159.87mil a year ago mainly due to lower container throughput due to changes in the container shipping industry.
“We expect our container throughput to be lower when compared to the previous year by between 7% and 12%,” the port owner and operator announced on Thursday.
Profit before tax fell 9.1% to RM174.4mil from RM192mil as container throughput declined to 2.23 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in Q2 F17 compared with 2.50 million TEUs in Q2 2016. Its PBT was slightly lower when compared with RM179.1mil in Q1 FY17.
Westports' revenue fell 4% to RM501.44mil from RM522.63mil a year ago. Its earnings per share were 4.36 sen compared with 4.69 sen a year ago. It rewarded shareholders with an interim dividend of 6.37 sen a share, lower than the 7.3 sen a year ago.
For the first half, its earnings fell 12.4% to RM289.71mil from RM330.95mil in the previous corresonding period. Its revenue was however higher at RM1.022bil from RM987.34mil a year ago.
“The group achieved an operational revenue of RM860mil and the container operations remained as the most prominent revenue contributor.
“Container operations handled 4.7 million TEUs in 6M2017. The Intra-Asia segment constituted more than half of the total containers handled, and this segment saw a favourable growth of 7%.
Westports continued to facilitate domestic economic activities as the gateway volume increased by 5% in 6M2017.
However, due to the ongoing changes in the container shipping industry, which saw the formation of new global alliances and re-constituted service offerings and port of calls, as well as mergers and acquisitions, the total transhipment containers handled were lesser at 3.3 million TEUs.
As for conventional cargoes, Westports handled 5.4 million tonnes of throughput with higher volume recorded in the dry bulk segment,” it said.
Westports CEO Ruben Emir Gnanalingam said: “The container shipping industry is going through an unprecedented recalibration and realignment processes with the formation and transition towards new global alliances as well as the recently completed and ongoing mergers and acquisitions activities.”.
He said Westports experienced the transition from the phasing-out of Ocean 3 services to the gradual phasing-in of Ocean Alliance services.
“We have also secured a service from THE Alliance. The industry’s recent and ongoing mergers and acquisitions could also affect our container volume handled, especially of transhipment boxes, as the enlarged and merged entity, may select to re-assess their service offerings and port of calls.
“Due to all these ongoing changes, we expect our container throughput to be lower for this year when compared to the previous year”.
“After the well-above average rate of utilization rate in the previous year, the more modest volume has facilitated much greater flexibility in our terminal operations as well as improved service levels and productivity.
“In the meantime, the facilities expansion at CT8 and CT9 and also new Terminal Operating Equipment would raise Westports total handling capacity. These factors will enhance Westports’ overall competitiveness and establish the foundation for future growth”.
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