EMEA News
Low Bunker Prices Provide Cushion to Bahri's Decreased Q3 Profits
The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri) in its latest financial results, which cover the 2016's third quarter (Q3), said low bunker prices provided a cushion to the company's net income results.
Bahri reported a 37 percent year on year decrease in net profit for the quarter, with SAR 318.3 million ($84.8 million) achieved during 2016's Q3, compared to SAR 510.3 million ($136.06 million) during 2015's Q3.
The company attributed the drop in net income largely to a year on year decrease in spot market rates during the quarter, a decrease in the average Time Charter Equivalent (TCE) rate in crude oil transportation spot market, and a decrease in the company share in profits of Petredec Limited.
However, in addition to low bunker prices, Bahri says other factors that provided support to its financial results was an increase in operating efficiency and performance of the general cargo transport sector, as well as the company's fleet expansion, which saw vessel count grow to 83 compared to 73 during the previous year's same period.
Bahri's report shows that operational profit for Q3 fell 57 percent year on year, slipping to SAR 230.1 million ($61.35 million) compared to SAR 545.2 million ($145.36 million) during the same period of 2015.
Earlier this month, Anwar Siddiqui, Advisor to the Bahri's CEO, said large shipping companies cannot afford not to utilise big data to glean improved operational efficiency.
