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Lorenzo Shipping turned around its financials, reporting a net income of P109.299 million in the first nine months of 2023, rebounding from a P85.703 million loss last year
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The higher income was mainly achieved by maximizing margins and cutting unnecessary expenses
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Despite a 14.56% decrease in handled container volumes, freight revenue grew 4% to P2.54 billion in the first nine months of the year
Lorenzo Shipping Corp.’s (LSC) net income rebounded in the first nine months of 2023 to P109.299 million from the P85.703-million loss posted in the same period last year.
Effective margin optimization and the reduction of unnecessary expenses led to the positive outcome, the domestic carrier said in a regulatory disclosure.
Despite a 14.56% year-on-year decrease in container volumes handled, freight revenue grew 4% to P2.54 billion from P2.432 billion in 2022.
LSC said the decrease in container volumes was a result of fewer voyages, influenced by a slowdown in domestic consumption during the third quarter of 2023. On the other hand, the overall revenue increase was credited to “determined efforts” made in the fourth quarter of 2022 through the first quarter of the current year to recover inflationary costs via freight adjustments.
The company said it is “embarking on maximizing freight margins combined with cost rationalization as expenses continue to increase through general inflation, currency depreciation, and cost of services such as bunkering, trucking, tuggage, inevitable empty repositioning, and maintenance of vessels and equipment.”
LSC’s plan for the last quarter of the year involves maintaining vigilance on vessel and equipment maintenance, improving service reliability for cargo deliveries, and focusing on maximizing yield per container per voyage to counter various escalating expenses and inflationary effects.
The carrier will continue with process improvements and innovation to significantly contribute to more efficient operations.
Additionally, LSC will closely monitor billing, collection, payables, and other obligations to ensure continuous support of vendor services; and pay close attention to land- and sea-based employees’ physical, mental, and emotional welfare to maintain high morale and maximize productivity.
LSC said it aims to undertake risk-mitigation measures and strengthen statutory compliances continuously to minimize service disruption and guarantee business continuity.
In 2022, LSC reported a net income of P18.60 million in 2022, its first reported annual income since the domestic carrier started posting annual losses in 2015.
LSC operates nine vessels that call 10 major ports in the country.
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