UPDATE 1-Hanjin Shipping sees recovery in H2 after Q1 loss

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SEOUL May 8 (Reuters) - South Korea's Hanjin Shipping (000700.KS), one of the top three operators of the key Asia-U.S. route, said on Friday the downturn-hit container shipping industry was expected to recover from the second half of 2009.

Shares in Hanjin briefly fell 3 percent, reversing early gains, after it posted a larger-than-expected quarterly loss.

It expected a marginal improvement in profitability in the second quarter, with global trade remaining weak and freight rates just begining to stablise, and said a recovery in global demand would lift the industry in the second half.

Hanjin, which trails container giants such as Maersk (MAERSKb.CO), Mediterranean Shipping Co and CMA CGM, posted a 273.8 billion won ($216.8 million) net loss in January-March, against a 78.5 billion won net profit a year earlier.

Operating loss for the quarter was 249.3 billion won, larger than a 140.9 billion won loss forecast by Reuters Estimates. Container shipping volume dropped 26 percent from a year earlier.

Hanjin said in a statement it planned to cut costs by $300 million by the end of 2009 and work on minimising losses through route rationalisation and ship supply adjustment. ($1=1263.1 Won) (Reporting by Rhee So-eui; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)