Hanjin Shipping announced 2010 business results with total sales of USD 8,135 million, operating profit of USD 535 million and net profit of USD 229 million.

Hanjin Shipping explained, “Total sales jumped 44.9% year on year recording USD 8,135 million due to the recovery of the world’s major economies resulting in increased cargo transport volume and freight rates. Container division saw 52.4% upturn of USD 6,751 million in total sales as a result of the cargo volume rise and rate recovery in the Trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe trades.

Bulk division also experienced 17% lift of USD 1,384 million in total sales due to the increased cargo volume caused by the deployment of new vessels and partial recovery in freight rates.

Container division’s operating profit was able to turn black recording USD 532 million as a result of the increased cargo volume caused by the expanded capacity in the Trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe trades, recovered rates and the company’s various cost-cutting measures including vessel-idling and eco-steaming.

In case of the bulk division, its operating profit also turned black achieving USD 3 million by having attracted a number of COA in spite of the falling market since the first half of the year.

However, Hanjin Shipping adds that these gains are merely recovering some of the larger losses of 2009: 70% for operating profit and some for net profit.

Regarding 2011 business outlook Hanjin Shipping comments, “For the container division, we expect oversupply to be the biggest challenge considering the continuous uncertainty of the world’s major economies and the deployment of mega-sized vessels scheduled throughout the year.

We will focus on efficient fleet/service operations and innovative cost-cutting measures to enhance the profitability of all trades. We are also planning on expanding our presence in the emerging markets to secure steady profits.”

The company added, “In case of the bulk market, we expect it to stay weak due to capacity increase and potential barriers of exporting raw materials. However, as we will be returning some of low-profit chartered vessels during the first half and deploying new ships with COA, we expect the profitability of our bulk business to improve over the year.”