EMEA News
Odfjell Pots $111M Loss For 2012
Norwegian bulk chemical transportation and storage company Odfjell said it lost $111 million in fiscal 2012, compared with a profit of $269 million in fiscal 2011, reflecting a weak chemical tanker market and continuing losses at Odfjell Terminals Rotterdam (OTR).
The company's gross revenues rose to $1.21 million, from $1.15 million the previous year, thanks partly to stable tank terminal earnings outside of the Rotterdam terminals.
Revenues from chemical tankers, the company's main segment, were $1.07 billion for 2012, up from $1.06 billion the previous year, but for the fourth quarter they were only $258 million, down from $283 million in the same quarter of 2011.
The company said it is taking slightly longer than expected to re-commission OTR, and it now expects 1.2 million cubic meters to be ready by the end of the second quarter of 2013.
Odfjell shut down the Rotterdam terminals in July 2012 because of safety concerns and had restored 45 percent of capacity there by November.
The company said it expects improved earnings from its tank terminals division in the first quarter of 2013, and it said it is accelerating the growth of that division through an expanded joint venture with Lindsay Goldberg LLC that will include all of Odfjell's tank terminal business.
That expansion includes a larger facility in Houston, Texas and a proposed new bulk liquids terminal in Le Havre, France, as well as possible projects in China that could total two million cubic meters of new storage capacity.
In the tanker division, the company said it added 13 vessels and sold seven older ones in 2012, and it expects four fuel-efficient tankers to be delivered between January and July 2014.
Odfjell said the supply-demand balance in the chemical tanker segment is improving, but there is a danger that more tonnage may flood the market.
"Our main concerns relate to challenging markets also in 2013, high fuel costs and potential setbacks in the global economy," the company said.
