Asia/Pacific News
PSA Profits up 10.7% as Singapore Terminals Set New Record
Singapore-based port operator PSA International said it increased its revenue 4.3 percent to S$4.5 billion ($3.6 billion) in 2012, while its net profit rose 10.7 percent to S$1.3 billion ($1 billion) as its flagship Singapore Terminals set a new record for the volume of cargo handled.
CEO Tan Chong Meng said the company's growth was particularly impressive given difficulties in the shipping market, which included high bunker prices.
"The continuing roll-out of mega ships, ordered during sunnier economic times a few years ago, saddled the industry with overcapacity in container shipping tonnage," he said.
"This combined with a downcast global market place of regional economic woes, weak or increasingly domestic trade flows, and high bunker prices set an ominous and confidence-dampening environment."
Singapore Terminals handled 31.3 million twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEU), up 6.4 percent from 2011, while the company's terminals outside the nation hit 28.8 million TEU, a 3.9 percent increase.
"Beyond Singapore, record volumes were also achieved by other PSA terminals including Sines, Mersin, Genoa, Chennai, Dongguan and Busan," said Chairman Fock Siew Wah.
The chairman said difficult economic conditions are likely to continue in 2013, with economic and political issues in Europe and the U.S.
"Even so, I remain confident that the collective commitment of our management, staff and unions to work very closely together, and with the cooperation of our customers and partners, will put us in good stead to overcome any challenges that we may face," he said.
PSA's Singapore Terminals said in October that it is investing S$3.5 billion ($2.85 billion) in technological improvements including more automated systems, and that it plans to reach a total container handling capacity of 50 million TEU per year by the end of the decade.
