HONG KONG - Profit of China Merchants Port Holdings Company Ltd (CMPort) rose 86.3 percent year-on-year to HK$3,148 million ($405 million) in the first half of 2017 as export trade of China performed well, CMPort said here on Thursday.

The container throughput handled rose 8.9 percent from a year ago to 50.16 million TEUs in the noted period, while total bulk cargo volume handled was up 14.6 percent to 249 million tons, according to the report issued by the company.

The company proposed an interim dividend of HK$0.22 per share and a special interim dividend of HK$1.35 per share celebrating the 25th listing anniversary.

Bai Jingtao, Managing Director of CMPort told a press meeting that as global economy and trade continues to recover and the traditional peak season of container shipment and dry bulk shipment cargos take place in the third and fourth quarter, the shipping industry will further rebound in the second half of this year.

Founded in 1992, CMPort is the flagship subsidiary of China Merchants Group, and was listed in Hong Kong in 1992 as the first mainland red chip enterprise to be listed here.