Norden Bunker Bill Falls $90M, Still Books $416M Loss

Underlying EBITDA was negative $31 million for the year

Dampskibsselskabet Norden A/S (Norden) Wednesday announced in its Annual Report for 2014 that the group made a net loss of $416 million, despite savings of $90 million in bunker costs.

Norden spent a total of $581 million on fuel last year versus the $671 million it reported last year.

The group said it had "further systematised and intensified efforts within fuel savings initiatives" during the year with special focus on hull cleaning, friction reducing coatings, and propeller polishing.

These initiatives reduced bunker consumption on Norden's core fleet by 2.5 percent, it said.

In addition it added two new eco-vessels in 2014 which save up to 25 percent versus the existing fleet.

Norden booked EBITDA for the group as a whole of negative $261 million, with underlying EBITDA from operations of negative $31 million.

Norden said it had reduced its dry bulk fleet by 21 percent in response to "more challenging markets than expected" and reorganised that segment of its business.

The group sold five vessels during the year for $112 million and put its investment programme on hold.

Norden said EBITDA for its dry bulk business had fallen steadily since 2010 and went into the red last year, while the opposite trend was recorded for its tankers segment which has seen year-on-year improvements in EBITDA since 2011.

The company said the tanker market had finished strongly in 2014 and that was continuing in 2015.

The company said it expected to achieve group EBITDA between negative and positive $40 million, with its dry bulk arm contributing between negative $40 million and positive $20 million, while its tankers segment contributes between $5 million and $45 million.

Earlier this week, rival company Scorpio Bulkers announced a $116.6 million loss for 2014.