Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- China Communications Construction Co., the world's biggest port builder, said first-half profit more than doubled as the country increases the capacity of its deep- water berths to handle surging sea trade.

Net income climbed to 2.74 billion yuan ($363 million), or 0.19 yuan a share, from 1.08 billion yuan, or 0.10 yuan, a year earlier, the company said in a statement today. The Beijing-based builder reported half-year earnings for the first time since its December initial public offering in Hong Kong.

China Communications Construction builds 90 percent of China's sea terminals, guaranteeing business in a country undergoing the world's largest port expansion. China's cargo volumes are rising at more than three times the rate of global trade. Shanghai's port, being enlarged by the company, is set to overtake Singapore next year as the world's busiest.

``The central and local governments are investing a lot in transportation infrastructure, so expenditures in this area are on the rise,'' said Jack Xu, an analyst at SinoPac Securities in Shanghai. ``Ports are a major part of the company's business, so the effect is huge.'' Xu, who has an ``in-line'' rating for China Communications Construction, spoke today before the company released earnings.

Building Infrastructure

First-half sales increased 24 percent to 58.7 billion yuan. Revenue from infrastructure construction, the company's biggest segment, increased 36 percent to 39 billion yuan as China Communications Construction expanded into new areas such as railroads, airports and subways, the statement said.

China Communications Construction's stock has advanced 130 percent this year, more than three times the gain in the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which tracks mainland Chinese companies traded in Hong Kong. France's Vinci SA, the world's biggest construction company, has gained about 7 percent.

Many ports in China's busiest shipping areas, namely the northern Bohai Bay, the Yangtze River Delta and the southern Pearl River Delta, are handling as much cargo as they were designed for or more, according to China Communications Construction's December share sale prospectus.

Busy Ports

China's six major ports of Shanghai, Shenzhen, Ningbo, Qingdao, Tianjin and Dalian will have 6 percent more traffic than their intended capacity by 2010, Swiss investment bank UBS AG said in a Feb. 15 research report.

Container volume in January to July rose 24 percent from a year earlier as the Chinese government pushed forward with plans to build 639 deep-water berths by 2010, doubling the capacity of the nation's coastal ports.

China Communications Construction is also bidding for more projects abroad. It's working on Southeast Asia's longest bridge, a planned $1 billion project to connect the island of Penang to mainland Malaysia.

At the beginning of 2007, China Communications Construction decided to accelerate international expansion in anticipation of slowing growth at home, Liu Wensheng, the company's chief economist and board secretary, said in an Aug. 16 interview in Beijing.

Investment in China's roads and ports gained 9.6 percent in the first half, slowing from 15 percent in each of the two preceding years, according to the Ministry of Communications, the nation's transportation regulator. Still, first-half spending rose more than a third faster than the 7 percent growth in world trade volume expected this year by the International Monetary fund.

Special Berths

China Communications Construction is building specialized berths for oil, natural gas and mineral carriers at sites such as the Caofeidian deepwater port under construction in Bohai Bay. The company's main overseas markets are Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

The port builder also dominates China's dredging market, with an 80 percent share. It controls more than 70 percent of the world trade in port container cranes through its Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Co. unit.

China Communications Construction is 70 percent owned by the China Communications Construction Group, which is controlled by the central government's State-Owned Assets Supervision & Administration Commission. The company was created in October 2006 from the combination of state-owned China Harbour Engineering Co. and China Road & Bridge Corp.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lee Spears in Beijing at lspears2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 7, 2007 07:27 EDT