Shipping firms lose 7.8 billion yuan

The mainland's A-share listed shipping companies suffered a loss of 7.8 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) in the first half of this year, the 21st Century Business Herald reported on Tuesday.

Although the third quarter is a traditionally busy season, the shipping companies' performance cannot improve much in the second half of the year due to excess capacity, experts said.

They warned that rising fuel prices are gradually eroding the industry's profits and the hard times are not over for shipping firms.

Only four companies of the 13 made a profit, including Cosco Shipping Co Ltd and China Merchants Energy Shipping Co Ltd.

China Cosco Holding Co Ltd lost 4.87 billion yuan in the first half of this year, after a 1.71 billion yuan loss in the first half of last year, down 79.72 percent.

The company's earnings in the third quarter are expected to be in the red, Cosco announced at its shareholders' meeting on Aug 30.