Singapore: Korea's STX Pan Ocean, listed on the Singapore mainboard, posted an 84% fall in net profits to $31m for the first half, compared to $192m in the first six months of 2005, on sales down 13% at $1.32bn. The company blamed 'a challenging business environment beset with low freight rates and rising bunker fuel costs,' adding that a late rally by the BDI (Baltic Dry Index) in June led to unrealised losses of $24m on Forward Freight Agreements. However, corresponding profits of chartered-in operations will be realised in the future and the true effects of the FFA losses will be mitigated somewhat by the fact that STX has successfully managed the upward market trend by increasing its tonnage, says the company. [10/08/06]
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