Vinalines estimates to lose about VNĐ1 trillion in seaport revenue because of the coronavirus epidemic. — Photo Cafef

HÀ NỘI — Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines) estimated it would lose VNĐ992 billion (US$42.7 million) in seaport-related revenue and VNĐ224 billion in profit in the first two quarters of 2020 because of the Covid-19 epidemic.

The firm calculated that sea logistics revenue would fall by VNĐ600 billion.

Vinalines’ representative told local media: “The epidemic has seriously damaged business and production results.”

In the first six months of the year, seaport output is estimated to fall by nearly 19 million tonnes.

With the debts the firm’s shipbuilding sector is currently owing, the poor business result would make the repayment of principal and interest an extremely difficult task, said the representative.

He also said to cope with market difficulties, the firm has developed scenarios under which they would restructure resources to reduce costs.

It would also promote marketing activities in the less affected markets, such as Europe and other Southeast Asian countries.

According to the representative of Vinalines, it has asked the Government, ministries and departments to support enterprises with better tax policies, as well as called banks to reduce lending interest rates and reschedule debts to help overcome the difficulties.

Earlier this month, the firm said it aimed to handle more than 108 million tonnes of goods via ports, up 1.9 per cent from last year. 

As one of several major State-owned corporations that needs to go public, Vinalines has not completed the task after five years. Last year, it cancelled its first shareholders' meeting to discuss a switch from State-owned to a joint-stock company model three times and no meeting has been held so far.

To prepare for the equitisation process, Vinalines has organised two share offerings. The initial public offering session attracted 42 investors who registered to buy 5,439,800 shares (accounting for more than 1.1 per cent of the nearly 490 million shares offered for auction). At the second session, the number of shares offered by Vinalines was more than 488.8 million. Only 5.44 million of the shares received registrations. — VNS