John Fredriksen’s Golden Ocean Group reported the best quarterly and full-year results in its 26-year history in figures released on Wednesday.
Net earnings in the fourth quarter of 2021 were $203.8m, against $28m 12 months earlier, while full-year net profit was $527.2m, reversing a loss of $137.6m for 2020.
The Oslo-listed owner reported time charter equivalent rates for its capesize and panamax/ultramax vessels of $39,304 per day and $29,635 per day, respectively, and $35,256 per day for the whole fleet in the fourth quarter.
For the first three months of 2022, capesizes have cover at $26,100 per day for 75% of available days, and panamaxes have 72% booked at $21,100.
For the second quarter, Golden Ocean said its capesize fleet has cover at $31,400 per day for 22% of available days, while for panamaxes it is $22,700 per day for 14% of the available days.
“Today, we release the best quarterly result and the best full-year result in the history of Golden Ocean,” chief executive Ulrik Andersen confirmed.
“The record result has been made possible through attractive market conditions, timely acquisitions and strong chartering performance.”
Andersen said Golden Ocean has a “considerable amount of fixed profitable charter cover” for the first quarter of 2022, which will protect its dividend capacity and “build a bridge into what we expect to be a much more attractive second half of the year”.
Despite the recent weakening in freight rates, which he attributes to seasonality, he believes the outlook for 2022 and beyond is positive due to a combination of “steady demand growth and fleet supply that is at generationally low levels”.
A combination of high demand and unprecedented supply chain inefficiencies supported record freight and utilisation rates at the start of the fourth quarter.
“At its peak, tonne-mile demand was up 5.7% year to date over 2020, with import volumes exceeding pre-pandemic levels,” Golden Ocean said.
“Driven by high waiting times at ports, fleet productivity decreased by 7% year over year despite a 3.4% increase in fleet size, significantly reducing effective fleet supply.
“The Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus contributed to a resurgence in supply chain problems as borders tightened once again, and both factories and port operators struggled with labour shortages.”
Golden Ocean has 99 vessels on the water or under construction, with an aggregate capacity of about 13.9m dwt.
It announced a 6% increase in its cash dividend of $0.90 per share in respect of the fourth quarter of 2021, payable on or about 10 March.
