South Korea's Hanjin Shipping said that the downturn hit container shipping industry was expected to recover from the second half of 2009. It expected a marginal improvement in profitability in the second quarter, with global trade remaining weak and freight rates just beginning to stabilize, and said a recovery in global demand would lift the industry in the second half.
Hanjin posted a KRW 273.8 billion net loss in January to March 2009 period, against a KRW 78.5 billion won net profit a year earlier. Operating loss for the quarter was KRW 249.3 billion, larger than a KRW 140.9 billion loss forecast by Reuters Estimates and container shipping volume dropped by 26% YoY from a year earlier.
Hanjin said in a statement that it planned to cut costs by USD 300 million by the end of 2009 and work on minimizing losses through route rationalization and ship supply adjustment.
