Shanghai International Port (Group) Co, operator of the world's second-busiest container harbor, said profit rose 23 percent last year as China's rising trade boosted demand for sea cargo transport.

Net income climbed to 3.64 billion yuan ($518.74 million), or 0.17 yuan a share, from 2.97 billion yuan, or 0.14 yuan, a year earlier, the company said in a Shanghai Stock Exchange statement yesterday. Sales climbed 27 percent to 16.3 billion yuan.

Shanghai, aiming to surpass Singapore as the world's busiest container port this year, boosted traffic 20 percent in 2007. Growth in cargo volumes and profit at Chinese harbors may slow this year as demand weakens in the US and China attempts to cool its economy.

"It will be a difficult year for all port operators," Ji Min, an analyst at China Merchants Securities Co in Shenzhen, said before the earnings release. "The export slowdown will hurt port operators, especially the container handlers, significantly."

Shanghai moved 26.2 million twenty foot-equivalent containers last year. Its cargo volume rose 4.2 percent to 560 million tons. Cargo boxes accounted for about half of Shanghai Port's sales last year, according to the statement.

Singapore handled 27.9 million boxes last year, a gain of 13 percent. PSA International Pte, the largest operator at the city-state's port, and the world's second biggest container terminal company, boosted profit 59 percent last year on rising global trade and the sale of units.

Hutchison Port Holdings Ltd, the biggest container terminal operator, raised earnings before interest and taxes 13 percent last year, parent Hutchison Whampoa Ltd said on March 27.

Traffic in Shanghai, which overtook Hong Kong last year as the world's second largest container port, may increase to more than 30 million cargo boxes this year, Shanghai Port President Chen Xuyuan said earlier.

China's ports may post smaller profit growth this year as slowing US consumer spending damps demand for Chinese-made goods, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

The country's ports will see a "turning point" this year, with investment and profit growth slowing in the years ahead, Wang Ming, a deputy director of transport at China's top planning agency, said.

(China Daily April 1, 2008)