STA, 25 August 2020 - Net profit at port operator Luka Koper declined by 40% year-on-year to EUR 15 million in the first six months of 2020, as net revenue was down 11% to EUR 107 million. All cargo categories were affected by the slowdown in trade, shows the company's interim report released on Tuesday.
Pre-tax profit (EBIT), at EUR 17 million, was down 42% compared to the same period last year and profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by 29% to EUR 31 million.
While the crucial container segment fared reasonably well, declining by 4% in tonnage and TEU terms, sharp declines in throughput were recorded in other cargo categories.
Dry and bulk cargoes were down by 26%, liquid cargoes by 14%, cars by 18% and general cargoes, which account for the smallest share of overall cargo volumes, by 32%.
Total transshipment, expressed in tonnes, declined by 15% to 10.1 million tonnes.
The figures show the coronavirus pandemic had a significant impact on world trade, but North Adriatic ports were actually not among the worst affected, the company said.
In the container segment, Koper and the neighbouring ports were not confronted with shipping line cancellations that the northern European ports had to face.
In the car segment, Koper even overtook both Spanish ports which are comparable to Koper in terms of cars volumes, CEO Dimitrij Zadel was quoted as saying.
Zadel said it was difficult to predict the end-year figures but the company was "taking measures to ensure access to a sufficient amount of liquid assets to overcome these impacts".
