China COSCO Chairman Wei Jiafu also urged shipping companies to be rational in expanding capacity.
Shipping companies "have to control capacity and should not be quick to order new ships. If they need to add capacity, they should consider leasing existing ships", he told a news conference.
The dry cargo shipping market is facing an over-capacity problem and the Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, the Baltic Dry Index , which tracks rates to ship dry commodities, has struggled to recover after touching 1,045 in February, the lowest level since 2008.
"The market is likely to start low and rise towards the later part of the year," said Vice-President Sun Jiakang.
He said the container shipping alliance CKYH, members of which include COSCO unit COSCON, Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp and Hanjin Shipping , had decided on a rate restoration plan this year.
From the Far East to U.S. west coast, freight rates would increase by $400 per container and rates to the east coast would increase by $600 and Europe routes would rise by $200 per container, he said.
The continued recovery of the global economy boosted earnings of China COSCO, which operates the world's largest bulk cargo fleet and is the fifth-largest container shipping company, to 3.41 billion yuan ($519.4 million) in July to December 2010, slightly above a consensus forecast of 3.24 billion yuan.
