The Hindu Business Line : Shreyas Shipping to expand Pak services

MR S. RAMAKRISHNAN, CMD, Shreyas Shipping & Logistics Ltd (right), with Mr Anil Devli, Executive Director, at a press conference in Mumbai on Wednesday. — Paul Noronha

Mumbai , May 24

Shreyas Shipping and Logistics Ltd, the first Indian liner to start a direct container service to Pakistan from India, after both countries had agreed to open their borders for trade recently, said it would expand its service from next week.

"We will be increasing our service frequency to every five days from 10 days now. We will be deploying another 550-TEUs vessel on the route as the demand for cargo space is growing," said Mr S. Ramakrishnan, Chairman and Managing Director.

"We took a calculated decision to commence a service to Karachi when the volumes were low. The response to the service has been overwhelming," said Mr Ramakrishnan.

Currently, Indian ships can carry only bilateral cargo between India and Pakistan. But once both countries sign the shipping protocol, ships from India and Pakistan would be allowed to carry third country cargo.

Meanwhile, Shreyas Shipping posted a net profit of Rs 7.23 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2006 as against Rs 12.66 crore in the year-ago period. The drop in net profit was mainly on account of the fall in the charter hire earnings. There has been a 25 per cent drop in charter rates over the past one year and the company had pulled out three of its vessels from time charter last year. Charter hire earnings dropped to Rs 6.45 crore from Rs 12.66 crore in the previous quarter, Mr Ramakrishnan said.

However, the company could maintain the total income for the quarter at Rs 31.71 crore (Rs 31.60 crore).

For the full year ended March 31, the company reported a net profit of Rs 34.33 crore as against Rs 26.84 crore in the previous year. Income rose to Rs 128.02 crore from Rs 97.65 crore.

Vessels acquisition

The company plans to acquire three second-hand vessels, besides the order placed for a new one with the Singapore yard, Mr Ramakrishnan said. Total investment is estimated at Rs 350 crore, which would be raised partly from internal accruals and a combination of debt and equity.

The board has recommended a dividend of Rs 1.2 per share for 2005-06.