Cosco Shipping Holdings: Q3 profit plunges despite higher shipping volumes

COSCO Shipping Holdings announced its unaudited third-quarter results for 2025, with total profits decreasing by 55.56% compared to the same period last year. Net profits attributable to equity holders also fell by 55.14%. For the first three quarters of 2025, total profits decreased by 29.14%, and net profits attributable to equity holders dropped by 29.00%. Basic earnings per share were RMB0.62, a 53.38% decrease year-on-year.

The company's container shipping business saw a 6.01% increase in shipping volume to 20.1843m TEUs for the first three quarters of 2025. However, revenue from routes decreased by 5.93% to RMB148,391,785 thousand for the same period. This decline in revenue per TEU was primarily attributed to changes in the supply and demand relationship in the container shipping market and a 39.49% year-on-year decrease in the average China Export Containerized Freight Index (CCFI) in Q3 2025.

Total assets as of September 30, 2025, stood at RMB500,032,779,213.65, a slight increase of 0.51% from the end of last year. Owners' equity attributable to equity holders decreased by 1.03% to RMB232,239,574,651.27. The company’s terminal business, COSCO SHIPPING Ports, reported a 5.60% increase in total throughput to 113.2775m TEUs for the first three quarters of 2025.