BEIJING: China Merchants Port Holdings saw 2016 net profit rise 14% to HKD5.49bn ($706.5m) on gains in both container and bulk terminal volumes. Revenue from the group’s core ports operation rose 14% to HKD24.51bn and generated a pre-tax profit of HKD11.54bn, up 9% year-on-year China Merchants Ports said in a press release. The group’s ports posted record-high container throughput of 95.8m teu up 15% from 2015, while bulk cargo throughput rose 30% to 460m tonnes. The group’s Mainland China ports still contributed the bulk of volumes with container throughput of 71.9m teu, an increase of 17.0% year-on-year, which was mainly driven by the additional contribution from a new equity investment in Dalian Port (PDA) Company earlier in the year.
China Merchants Port’s operations in Hong Kong and Taiwan saw container throughput grow 12% to 6.9m teu. Meanwhile the group’s international operations benefited from the ramp up at Colombo International Container Terminals and the additional contribution from Kumport Liman Hizmetleri ve Lojistik Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Şirketi in Turkey. Total container throughput handled by the group’s overseas ports grew by 5.7% year-on-year to 17.0m teu. The group’s Mainland China ports handled bulk cargo volume of 453m tonnes, making up the majority of its total bulk cargo volume of 460m tonnes. And overseas ports such as Port de Djibouti in Djibouti contributed a bulk cargo volume of 6.5m tonnes, an increase of 26% year-on-year.
