Norwegian products tanker operator Bryggen Shipping International had one of its best years ever in 2019, swinging to a profit from a loss a year earlier on the back of a firm market.
The Bergen-based company, which is owned by Tore Haagensen (68) and his son Tim (36) logged a pre-tax profit of NOK 45m ($4.5m), against a NOK 17m loss in 2018.
Director Tim Haagensen, who owns 49% of the shares in the private company, said 2020 has also started very well due to the oil crisis, which led to extensive storage business.
Very active
“We have been very active in the first half of the year”, he said, adding that Bryggen was also starting to feel the effects of the corona virus.
However, Haagensen still believes the company will able to log a profit for the full year.
Bryggen, and its holding company Laxevaag Tankers, have a flexible approach to the size of the fleet they control. It varies from five to 15 tankers on charter, and currently stands at seven.
Bryggen has also considered taking tankers on short-term charters with options and to buy stakes in vessels to gain commercial control, but such plans appear to have been put on ice for now.
Business focus
“We will focus on business we believe we are good at,” Tim Haagensen said.
The company had operating revenues of NOK 698m last year up from NOK 524m in 2018.
Bryggen had a book equity of NOK 80m at the end of 2019.
Tore Haagensen is a former seafarer, who started his career with Bergen-based Westfal-Larsen.
He was earlier a partner with Hans Solberg, who now runs Hansa Tankers with a fleet of more than 40 chemical tankers.
