Ethiopian Shipping Lines (ESL) made a 661.5 million birr profit during the fiscal year to 7 July 2011 nine percent more than its projection for the year.

Over the last quarter of the 2009/10 fiscal year, ESL made an unprecedented profit of 641.3 million birr, 154 percent of its projection for that fiscal year outperforming its projection by 56 million birr.

ESL transported 2.2 million tonnes of goods in the same year, below its projection of 2.5 million tonnes.

Currently, the company is operating on the Port of Djibouti with eight vessels whose combined carrier capacity is 150,000 tonnes. It provides linear services to specified ports abroad on a regular sailing schedule, and is planning to raise its carriage capacity to 400,000 tonnes by adding nine vessels to its fleet.

The Ethiopian Shipping Lines transported about 1.7 million tonnes of goods for importers, performing less than its target of transporting 2.3 million tonnes of cargo in 2010/11.

ESL transported around 2.5 million tonnes over the 2009/10 fiscal year, seven per cent above its projection, registering an increase of 305,438 tonnes from the 2008/09 fiscal year.

As of 20 July 2010 the Ethiopian Shipping Lines has replaced local currency payments with dollars.

During the 2010/11 fiscal year, exports reached 468,019tn, exceeding its target of 237,784tn. Most of these exports went to the Gulf States and the Far East.

Source: Fortune