COSCO Pacific Ltd, Asia's third-largest container-terminal operator, yesterday said profit fell 17 percent as a one-time gain a year earlier masked rising volumes.

Third-quarter net income dropped to US$77.7 million, or 3.50 cents a share, from US$94 million, or 4.20 cents, a year earlier, the Hong Kong-based company told the city's stock exchange yesterday. Sales rose 20 percent to US$91.2 million.

COSCO Pacific's container volume climbed 20 percent in the period, helped by the opening of a berth in Singapore and new investments in Egypt and Jinjiang, China.

China's container-volume growth is likely to slow this year as the credit crunch curbs exports to Europe and the United States, Bloomberg News said.

The company's 20 global container terminals handled 12.2 million boxes in the third quarter.

COSCO Pacific has plunged 80 percent this year.