Philippine cargo carrier Lorenzo Shipping Corp. (LSC) posted a 60% increase in net income for the first half of the year, thanks to higher cargo volume carried. Net income reached P36.589 million compared to the P22.836 million recorded in the same period in 2011.
Net revenues in the January-June 2012 period increased as well, by 14.3% year-on-year to P912.893 million from P798.791 million.
Direct cost rose significantly by 8.1% to P829.173 million. Cost of services was 10% higher at P739.995 million while terminal operating expenses declined 6.2% to P89.178 million.
Gross profit, meanwhile, more than doubled (+161.2% year-on-year) to reach P83.719 million.
Other income fell 28.1% from P88.338 million to P63.507 million.
LSC is anticipating growth of less than 5% this year due to the lingering effects of the global economic slowdown. LSC president Roberto Umali, in an earlier interview, said the conservative business outlook for this year is unchanged from last year due to limited growth areas, but this is still much better than in 2010 when domestic cargo shipping experienced a significant slowdown.
LSC owns and operates a fleet of seven vessels deployed to the key ports in Manila, Visayas and Mindanao. Its vessels have a capacity ranging from 200 twenty-foot equivalent units to 426 TEUs with speed of 11 knots to 15 knots.
Last year, LSC and sister firm NMC Container Lines formed a joint venture to handle all the companies’ cargo-handling services nationwide. The joint venture, called One Team Services, Inc, is a 50-50 sharing agreement between the two Magsaysay-owned local cargo-handling operators. One Team Services, Inc. is envisioned to eventually handle the cargo-handling requirements of LSC and NMC in various locations in the Philippines for overall operational efficiency and long-term cost effectiveness.
Photo from http://www.lorenzoshipping.com/services
