Klaveness Combination Carriers (KCC) chief executive Engebret Dahm believes the coronavirus may already have done its worst to shipping.
And he said the company is well placed to capitalise on any market upturns when the outbreak's severity lessens.
Speaking on a conference call, the Norwegian company's boss said: "The coronavirus is on all our minds."
He added the disease "impacts the shipping side" but "the worst may be behind us."
"We are seeing that LR1 earnings have improved quite a bit in the last few weeks, and kamrsarmaxes have bottomed out. When China opens slowly, hopefully markets will pick up again."
Upside potential
The CEO said: "Once the situation is settled, which we hope will be in the next month or two, there is upside potential in both markets."
KCC, whose ships can trade in both tanker and bulker markets, foresees a "catch-up effects" as China steps up economic activity again.
"The effect on the world economy is unknown, but the underlying macro outlook is not that bad," Dahm said.
"We believe that our company, based on contract coverage we have and our trading patterns, is more robust to impacts of the virus, but we will not be spared if the impacts are delayed further forward."
KCC is in the middle of taking delivery of an eight-ship series of Cleanbu combination carriers at Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding in China.
On Tuesday, it outlined delays to the newbuilding programme as a result of the outbreak.
The fourth ship in the series is expected to be delayed by roughly two months to early May.
Dahm said: "The shipyard has started up production somewhat this week, but we don't yet know how fast it will ramp up production to get up to normal again."
The other vessels face being late by one or two months.
Concern for crews
Dahm said: "We are concerned to take all precautions so that there is no impact on our crews."
And he added that the company has also demobilised its team at the shipyard, but expects them to return in the next couple of weeks.
Dahm called the final three months of 2019 the best quarter for the last 18 months.
Contract renewals were up considerably in the fourth quarter, he said.
He added that some customers only entered into six-month contracts instead of 12 months due to the current uncertainty, but "earnings and volumes are good".
KCC reported an almost tripling of net profit to $1.73m in the period, on the back of an expanded fleet.
Revenue increased 25% year-on-year to $18.8m despite average time charter equivalent earnings (TCE) easing by just over 1.2% to $18,941 per day.
