Lorenzo Shipping Corp. has set aside P600 million as capital expenditure for the year.
At the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 26, Lorenzo president Roberto Umali outlined the listed company’s plans for the near term, including acquisition of the container yard it is leasing in Bacolod.
Umali said the Bacolod trade has shown much promise, as reflected in the 27% increase in volume since the start of yard operations in 2000.
By August, Lorenzo will take delivery of 200 brand new food-grade container vans.
Toward end of the year the e-commerce website will be launched and ISO certification pursued.
But the most immediate development is today’s (June 30) maiden voyage of Lorcon Bacolod calling Manila-Cagayan De Oro-Iloilo-Bacolod then back to Manila.
Lorcon Bacolod, a 14-year old vessel equipped with two forty-ton crane and capacity of 275 twenty-foot equivalent units, replaced the MV Lorcon Zamboanga this year.
Lorcon Bacolod brings to seven Lorenzo’s total fleet.
The company is also gearing toward providing integrated transport and logistics solutions.
“We will not only limit our services to shipping but instead broaden the scope to cater to other transport and logistics needs which are beyond shipping,” Umali said.
Lorenzo, together with sister company NMC Container Lines, already has an affiliate trucking business.
Lorenzo posted a 322.2% year-on-year increase in profit for the first quarter of 2014, thanks to more accounts booked, greater co-loading business and full utilization of all vessels. This follows a decline in 2013 income due to dry docking of vessels and operations rationalization.
For the second quarter of the year, Umali expects income to “significantly” decline due to negative effects of transport issues such as the Manila truck ban.
Moving forward, Umali said the company will adopt measures aimed at three areas: increasing productivity; reducing costs; and quickly responding to changes and customer requirements. – Roumina Pablo
Image from www.lorenzoshipping.com
