P&O Business Remains Firm

British shipping firm Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company said that overall trading conditions at its core ports, ferries and logistics businesses had remained firm in the fourth quarter. The company, which de-merged its cruise business last year, highlighted strong growth in its ports unit but said trading in the ferry business had been "reasonable" despite higher fuel costs. Contract logistics had a good fourth quarter though the weakness of the euro hurt unit loads, while cold logistics hit high growth levels. The company added that its container shipping subsidiary P&O Nedloyd was also expected to finish the year strongly. - (Reuters)