Norwegian Car Carriers’ third quarter loss widened to $4.1 million from $1.8 million a year earlier, as a one-off charge outweighed the impact of surging Japanese and Korea auto shipments, Journal of Commerce reports. The Oslo-based carrier took an impairment charge of $5.1 million from writing down the book value of two vessels. The company boosted operating revenue 6.7 percent year-over-year to $15.9 million.
The company, which owns 11 ships and has two on charter, halved the nine months loss to $1.5 million from $2.95 million. The carrier’s revenue jumped 42.2 percent year-over-year to $48.5 million.
The deepsea car carrier market continued a modest but steady improvement during the third quarter and into the final three months of the year, the carrier said. The gains came despite turbulent financial markets and the recent flooding in Thailand.
Most markets showed year-on-year growth but car sales in many regions have slowed from the early part of 2011. The U.S. was a notable exception, with sales rebounding in September and October from a weak second quarter that was impacted by supply problems caused by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
Japanese manufacturers have significantly ramped up production and exports with September shipments the highest since 2008. Exports from Korea hit all-time highs in the second and third quarters.
Despite improving market fundamentals, Norwegian Car Carriers said current rate levels are insufficient to return it to profit during the first three quarters of 2012. But it expects a much strong charter market towards the end of 2012 due to the substantial reduction in the delivery of newbuildings combined with continued rising demand for deepsea car carriers.
The company, which owns 11 ships and has two on charter, halved the nine months loss to $1.5 million from $2.95 million. The carrier’s revenue jumped 42.2 percent year-over-year to $48.5 million.
The deepsea car carrier market continued a modest but steady improvement during the third quarter and into the final three months of the year, the carrier said. The gains came despite turbulent financial markets and the recent flooding in Thailand.
Most markets showed year-on-year growth but car sales in many regions have slowed from the early part of 2011. The U.S. was a notable exception, with sales rebounding in September and October from a weak second quarter that was impacted by supply problems caused by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
Japanese manufacturers have significantly ramped up production and exports with September shipments the highest since 2008. Exports from Korea hit all-time highs in the second and third quarters.
Despite improving market fundamentals, Norwegian Car Carriers said current rate levels are insufficient to return it to profit during the first three quarters of 2012. But it expects a much strong charter market towards the end of 2012 due to the substantial reduction in the delivery of newbuildings combined with continued rising demand for deepsea car carriers.