A collapse in the dry cargo market during the first quarter saw Danish owner Norden fall short of forecasts for the period.
A strong showing from its tanker business kept the Copenhagen-listed company in the black and it is keeping its full-year forecast unchanged.
Jan Rindbo, chief executive of Norden, explained that a drop in Chinese demand, coupled with trade tensions and the Vale dam disaster, led to panamax spot rates halving in just three weeks.
Rindbo said Norden’s Dry Operator division’s response was swift and agile but could not prevent a $3m loss from the business during the quarter.
However, he did note the past four quarters has seen the bulker operating arm log an aggregate adjusted profit of $24m.
With asset prices not crashing to the same degree as the freight market, the Dry Owner division sold four ships during the quarter and recorded a break-even result.
With the strong tanker market from late 2018 rolling over into the first quarter and Norden’s vessels outperforming the market, the division booked an adjusted profit of $10m, Rindbo explains.
Overall, Norden booked an adjusted profit of $7m for the first quarter, below the $9.4m Bloomberg consensus.
The shipowner continues to forecast an adjusted result of between $25m and $60m this year.
Rindbo says dry cargo rates are on average expected to come in below 2018 levels this year but the tanker market is forecast to improve in the second half helped by the pending arrival of IMO 2020 laws.
