The state-owned giant said a preliminary examination of the books for last year indicates a positive net result, breaking a two-year streak of losses that put it at risk of being booted off the bourse.

Cosco said there had still been “no real improvement in supply and demand imbalances" in shipping markets, however, and it had taken various measures to boost revenue in difficult circumstances.

Operating losses have been reduced, it added, and assets have been offloaded. The key sale came at the end of last year, when it raised $602m from disposing of two property companies.

The net loss in the nine months to 30 September was CNY 1.04bn, which, with the sales gain, means an annual profit is possible if the fourth quarter loss has been kept below CNY 2.63bn.

It has raised an estimated CNY 6.6bn from asset sales in a bid to climb back into profit.