Americas News
CSAV Drops Bunker Costs, Shrinks Loss in Q1
Chilean shipping company Compañía Sud Americana de Vapores (CSAV) reports it reduced its net loss to $96 million in the first quarter of 2013, compared with a $205.2 million loss in the same period last year.
The company's bunker costs dropped to $155.2 million, from $248.5 million year-over-year, which it attributed to lower fuel prices and efficiency projects implemented last year.
Fuel represented 18.4 percent of the company's costs for the quarter, down from 25.3 percent in Q1 2012.
The company paid $619 per metric tonne (pmt) for fuel in Q1 2013, down 9 percent from $678 pmt in Q1 2012 and 4 percent lower than the $645 pmt paid in Q4 2012.
Total operating revenue rose 3.9 percent to $877.1 million year-over-year, while transported volumes dropped 12.7 percent to 436,499 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).
Looking into the coming months, CSAV said freight rates remain volatile in Asian trades, and June and July market activity will be important because the expected peak season could increase rates.
The company said its cost structure has improved, in part because of the use of larger vessels and better utilisation levels.
The company said last fall that a major restructuring effort had brought it back to profitability in Q3 2012, but since then a decline in freight rates has pushed results down again.
