Antong Holdings (600179) Net Profit to Surge 77.9% in 2025; International Business Gross Margin Exceeds 70% | Port Circle

On the evening of March 23, Antong Holdings Co., Ltd. (referred to as “Antong Holdings,” 600179) released its 2025 annual report. Last year, Antong Holdings achieved a revenue of 9.08 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.28%; net profit attributable to shareholders was 1.086 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 77.9%; net profit excluding non-recurring items was 976 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 110.95%; basic earnings per share were 0.26 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 77.82%.

Antong Holdings’ impressive performance is attributed to simultaneous growth in both domestic and foreign trade.

In 2025, Antong Holdings’ weighted average total capacity reached 2.4177 million deadweight tons. According to Alphaliner statistics, as of December 31, 2025, Antong Holdings ranked 28th in comprehensive capacity among global container shipping companies and was among the top three domestic logistics enterprises in the domestic container trade.

In the domestic trade market, according to the Pan-Asian Domestic Container Freight Index (PDCI), the average domestic container freight index in 2025 was 1,170.17 points, an increase of 6.2% compared to the same period last year.

With a thriving market, Antong Holdings is also optimizing its resources, having conducted regional integration of its existing port locations. As of December 31, 2025, it has established 41 maritime service points nationwide, covering 165 business ports, ranking among the top three in domestic container throughput at 112 major domestic ports. Currently, Antong Holdings mainly operates 34 domestic trunk routes, effectively covering major trunk ports in the country.

Antong Holdings continues to optimize its domestic trade routes, collaborating with Shanghai Port Group, Tianjin Port Group, and Guangzhou Port Group to jointly create the “Three Ports, One Route” high-speed FAST premium maritime route; further strengthening cooperation with major domestic shipping companies to enhance cabin collaboration, achieve complementary advantages, and improve resource utilization.

In addition, Antong Holdings has reached a strategic partnership with Xiamen Guomao, focusing on domestic container logistics, sea-rail intermodal transport, and intelligent connectivity; it has signed with Liaoport Co., Guangzhou Port Co., and Xinfeng Shipping to jointly build a north-south logistics corridor.

In 2025, Antong Holdings completed a maritime billing container volume of 3.2625 million TEU, a year-on-year increase of 12.11%, and achieved a container throughput of 17.0188 million TEU, a year-on-year increase of 7.71%. The increases in freight rates, billing container volumes, and container throughput resulted in Antong Holdings’ domestic logistics revenue reaching 7.916 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.93%, with a gross profit margin increase of 3.86 percentage points.

In terms of international shipping, although the foreign trade container shipping market experienced fluctuations and overall freight rates declined, the charter market remained favorable. Antong Holdings continued to utilize external chartering to deploy some vessels into the foreign trade container shipping market. As of the end of the reporting period, Antong Holdings operated a total of 16 container ships on international routes, with a total capacity of 716,600 deadweight tons, achieving international logistics revenue of 1.13 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 56.93%, with a gross profit margin as high as 73.48%.

It is noteworthy that Antong Holdings has established deep cooperation with Sinotrans Container Line. In January 2025, Antong Holdings leased two of its vessels to Sinotrans Container Line for foreign trade container shipping, generating hundreds of millions of yuan in rental income for Antong Holdings. In July 2025, China Merchants Energy announced plans for its wholly-owned subsidiary Sinotrans Container Line to acquire shares from Antong Holdings. As of December 31, 2025, Sinotrans Container Line and its concerted parties held a total of 20.00% of Antong Holdings’ shares, becoming the largest shareholder. The capital binding and resource integration between the two major container shipping companies within the China Merchants Group have provided Antong Holdings with a foothold for expanding its foreign trade business.

On March 23 of this year, Antong Holdings announced its intention to lease out two container ships to Sinotrans Container Line for the foreign trade container shipping market. In the future, Antong Holdings will fully leverage its inland logistics network and customer resources to expand its international freight forwarding business and explore an integrated operational model for domestic and foreign trade.

Apart from maritime transport, Antong Holdings is also actively expanding its rail and road networks based on its logistics advantages along the coast and rivers, developing multi-modal logistics services. In 2025, based on its port and route network resources, Antong Holdings integrated container truck resources, flexibly allocating container truck capacity distributed nationwide, relying on a widely covered dense network to meet customers’ logistics needs for the “last mile.” Antong Holdings further optimized and integrated its existing railway stations and lines. As of December 31, 2025, it had 8 railway service points, 39 direct railway routes, and 274 sea-rail routes, involving 270 business railway stations and covering 295 cities across 31 provincial administrative regions. Antong Holdings also signed a multi-modal transport “single document” agreement with China National Railway Group to integrate railway, port, and shipping resources, achieving seamless connections between rail and maritime transport.

By business segment, in 2025, Antong Holdings achieved maritime business revenue of 7.735 billion yuan, road business revenue of 1.08 billion yuan, and railway business revenue of 230 million yuan, establishing a competitive advantage in the transportation systems of sea, road, and rail.

Port Circle (ID: gangkouquan) believes that since the pandemic, the foreign trade charter market has become a good opportunity for domestic shipping companies to earn “external” profits. Companies including Antong Holdings have generated considerable profits through chartering shipping capacity and gained more opportunities to participate in the international market.

However, the foreign trade market is highly volatile, and the domestic trade market remains the main battleground for domestic shipping companies, with the breakthrough and growth potential for domestic container shipping lying in multi-modal transport. In recent years, the government has continuously introduced special policies to promote the development of multi-modal transport, including the deepening of the “single document” and “single container” development, and the issuance of the “Action Plan for Promoting Deep Integration of Container Rail-Water Transport with ‘One Port, One Policy’ (2025-2027).” Multi-modal transport will become an effective way for domestic container shipping companies to expand their market reach.

Antong Holdings, backed by the China Merchants Group’s coastal and inland terminal resources, has also established a broad multi-modal logistics network, creating a business network layout that covers the coast, rivers, and extends deep into the inland, positioning itself at the next window for domestic trade development.