Japanese shippers reap quarterly profit bonanza amid supply chain chaos

[TOKYO] Nippon Yusen and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Japan's biggest and third-biggest shipping companies by sales, reported record quarterly profits on Thursday (Nov 4) as they benefited from higher freight rates amid the chaos hitting global supply chains.

The chaos in the world's trade system, which threatens to derail a recovery from the worst health crisis in a century, has provided a bonanza to such companies as freight rates soared to the highest since 2008s.

"Port and inland congestion did not improve due to a shortage of drivers for inland haulage," Nippon Yusen said in comments on the results for the three months through Sep 30.

Quarterly profit came to 260 billion yen (S$3.07 billion), more than 25 times last year's amount, according to calculations by Reuters from the company's first fiscal half earnings announced on Thursday.

That is the highest quarterly profit for the company, according to Refinitiv Eikon data going back to December 2002.

Kawasaki Kisen's second-quarter profit increased nearly 14-fold to 144 billion yen from a year earlier, based on calculations from its H1 results, also released on Thursday (Nov 4). That was the most since at least June 2003.

This week, Maersk, which handles one in five containers shipped worldwide, said quarterly profit tripled to almost US$7 billion and warned that port delays would stretch into the new year.

REUTERS