CHINA Shipping Container Lines Co. expects to swing to a 2013 net loss of about 2.63 billion yuan (US$431 million), as the Chinese shipping operator suffered from weak demand for international trade and global overcapacity.

    The Hong Kong and Shanghai-listed company, which is scheduled to release its full-year earnings in March, didn’t give further details. It posted a full-year net profit of 522.69 million yuan in 2012.

    China Shipping Container Lines is the world’s ninth-largest container shipping firm by capacity and operates 133 ships, according to shipping consultancy Alphaliner. It also has 12 more ships on order.

    The difficult business environment is also being felt at China Shipping’s larger rival, China COSCO Holdings Co., which recently said it expects to return to a profit in 2013 with the help of asset sales. Without the extraordinary gains, however, the shipper would have continued to be unprofitable.

    China COSCO racked up losses totaling 20 billion yuan in 2011 and 2012, with the world’s shipping market in the doldrums. A third year of losses would threaten the company’s Shanghai listing status. It sought to avoid the situation through the sale of assets to its parent company.

    (SD-Agencies)