China Merchants Group chief sees no end yet to dry bulk cargo fleet woes

The business woes of dry bulk cargo shippers are unlikely to end this year because of excess capacity, according to the chairman of the China Merchants Group, Fu Yuning.

"The dry bulk cargo shipping sector will still be under pressure," Fu said yesterday.

"I don't expect the problem of excess capacity to improve this year."

Excess capacity has put pressure on freight rates, hurting shipping companies' profits.

He said China Merchants, a state-owned conglomerate which has operations in shipping, ports and property, had no plans to expand its shipping fleet any further this year.

But its capacity would continue to increase, because some ships ordered earlier had still to actually join the company's fleet, he said.