Singamas Container says damage from Tianjin blasts limited

Singamas Container Holdings yesterday said damages on its facilities in Tianjin as a result of the deadly blasts will be limited and that it expects a demand uptick for new containers to delay for one to two years as the shipping market continues to be flaccid.

Singaporean-controlled and Hong Kong-listed Singamas has reported one employee missing and three others injured as a result of last week’s explosions in Xingang Port in Tianjin that also damaged its two container depots.

“The blast site is still cordoned off and we are unable to enter to assess the exact losses,” chief operating officer Chan Kwok-leung told reporters at the company’s interim results briefing.

“We have approximately 7,000- 8,000 teus [twenty-foot equivalent units] of old, empty containers stored in the depots. Altogether the Tianjin site contributes to less than 1 per cent of our annual turnover, so the impact on our financial performance going forward will be minimal,” chief financial officer Rebecca Chung added.

Singamas, the world’s second-largest container manufacturer after China International Marine Containers, reported first-half net profit dropped 24 per cent year on year to US$10 million, weighed down by slackening trade growth and higher costs.

Revenue climbed 3.7 per cent to US$704 million in the six months to June. But double-digit increases in staff costs and other expenses blunted the gains in sales.

The declining price in corten steel, the main ingredient, has squeezed out margins. The average selling price of the 20-foot dry freight containers has fallen 12.4 per cent to US$1.880.