During the same period, COSCO’s earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) reached US$20.38 billion, while earnings per ordinary share in 2021 was US$0.88.
Meanwhile, the company’s asset-liability ratio was 56.76%, representing a decrease of 14.3 percentage points compared to the previous year.
Furthermore, as of 31 December 2021, the Chinese group operates a total fleet capacity of 510 ships and 2.94 million TEU through its wholly-owned subsidiary COSCO Shipping Lines and its holding subsidiary Oriental Overseas International (OOIL).
“By adhering to the concept of providing ‘customer-centric’ services, our relationship with our customers is the key to our success,” said COSCO in a statement.
The company expects little improvement in the market situation of supply and demand in the first half of 2022, and the market prospect is “still cautiously optimistic in the short term.”
However, the repeated Covid-19 waves, global inflation, geopolitical tension and other events are anticipated to bring uncertainties to the long-term performance of the market, making it difficult to predict the future trend.
According to major international economic organisations, the world economy will continue to grow at a low rate in 2022.
COSCO announced its commitments for 2022, saying, “No matter the challenges are, the company will actively respond to the global economic and trade changes and fulfill the mission of shipping the world. We will make contributions in carrying out social responsibility, environment protection and emission reduction in terms of developing green, low-carbon and intelligent shipping, in order that the company can create greater value for shareholders.”
