"2009 was the worst year for the shipping industry. Now shipping volume is showing some growth, but it is not strong enough yet," CEO Kim Young-min told a news conference.
Hanjin and other major container lines such as A.P. Moller-Maersk and Evergreen Marine hope to speed up the recovery through freight rate increases, with industry-wide negotiations for the key trans Pacific route due to be completed in April.
"If talks on the trans Pacific route go well, most container lines should be able to return to profit, even by a small margin," said Kim, who was elected the head of industry group Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement last month.
He expects global container shipping volume, a barometer of world trade, to rise by 5-6 percent this year after dropping by 13-15 percent in 2009, hit by the economic downturn worldwide.
A rise in volume seen in December-January was mainly due to inventory restocking by the U.S. retail industry, rather than a fuller recovery in demand in North America, Kim said.
His view echoes that of CEO of industry leader A.P. Moller-Maersk, who said earlier this month in an interview that strength in container markets in early 2010 was likely to taper off.
Kim said he expected to see overcapacity tailing off this year as shipping firms delay deliveries of new ships. Shipping companies already have many ships idling in ports and are busy negotiating delays in the delivery of ships ordered during the boom years.
Hanjin, the world's ninth-biggest container shipping firm and No. 3 in the key trans Pacific route, aims to post operating profit and increase revenue by 27 percent to $7.1 billion in 2010.
"It is difficult to say the crisis is over and a short-term rebound is unlikely. But Hanjin aims to normalise by 2013," said Kim. "Returning to operating profit this year is the first step, and a recovery in balance sheet could take three years."
Hanjin posted a 942.5 billion won ($824 million) operating loss last year on $5.6 billion in revenue, as the industry suffers a knock down in volume and freight rates dropped from the global downturn. Its debt also jumped to 6 trillion won in 2009 from 3.4 trillion won in 2007. (Reuters)
