Jinhui Shipping and Transportation has carded another quarterly loss despite the improvement in rates seen during the quarter.
The Oslo and Hong Kong-listed supramax specialist lost just $800,000 in the second quarter, according to figures released this morning.
Revenue jumped by over 26% year-on-year to $18.9m, while ship operating costs fell by almost one quarter to $10.7m.
The shipowner’s revenue boost was helped by a 72% jump in the average daily time charter equivalent (TCE) earned by its ships of $8,231.
The steep decline in operating costs came as Jinhu slashed the size of its fleet from 35 vessel to 23 over the past 12 months.
“Dry bulk shipping market has been improving since February 2017 on the back of rising dry seaborne trade volumes which were stimulated by both increasing agricultural products and coal trading activities,” Jinhui said.
“Despite the freight rates having softened in May and June 2017, the average of BDI during the second quarter of 2017 was 1,006 points, which compares to 610 points in 2016.”
The year-to-date has also seen the company slash its gearing ratio to just 33% from the 61% seen at the end of December 2016.
This has been achieved through a combination of asset sales as well as a $25m share issue carried out in late July.
At the end of the quarter Jinhui’s fleet was comprised of two post-panamax bulkers and 21 geared supramaxes.
