Thai dry bulk shipping company Precious Shipping has reported a consolidated net loss of THB335.69 million (USD10 million) in its first-quarter 2015 results.
This contrasts sharply with a net profit of THB139.62 million in 2014.
Vessel operating income
Precious identified a few main reasons for the reversal in a filing with the Stock Exchange of Thailand. One of the reasons was a decline of 26% in absolute net vessel operating income.
According to the filing, this was “mainly due to the decrease in the average earnings per day per vessel from USD9,268 in the first quarter of 2014 to USD6,074 in this quarter as a consequence of the prolonged weakness in the dry bulk shipping sector, with the Baltic Dry Index reaching the lowest point in its long history in February 2015.”
Related news:Precious Shipping: BDI does not tell our pain
Precious’ fleet size grew to 45 vessels during the first quarter of 2015 against an average of 39 vessels in the same period in 2014. This resulted in higher vessel running expenses with an increase of 14% y/y.
Average operating expenses per day per vessel were USD 4,634 in the first quarter of 2015 as compared with USD 4,636 in the same period in 2014, the filing said.
There were no vessel sales in the first quarter of 2015, compared to recorded gains of THB 27.28 million in the first quarter of 2014 for ship sales.
Depreciation was also higher at THB52.59 million compared with the first quarter of 2014, because of the increase in the number of vessels.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.
