Courage Marine swings back into the black in Q3

Courage Marine returned to profit in the third quarter, posting a small $454,000 profit from a $3.4m loss in the previous corresponding quarter, Seatrade Asia online reports.

Turnover however fell more than a third to $3.5m from $5.7m previously, as poor market conditions in dry bulk rates, as well as the low fleet utilisation rate took their toll.

But a sharp 59% fall in the cost of sales to $3.2m from $7.8m previously and the reversal of the impairment loss on the disposal of fixed assets helped to bring the dry bulk player back into the black. Courage Marine attributed the cost reductions mainly to lower fixed costs, including insurance, crew fees and depreciation arising from the disposal of aged vessels during the past 18 months.

For the first nine months of the year, revenue also fell 15% to $13.5m from $15.8m previously. The company cautioned that the dry bulk market is still poor, with demand for commodities, especially in the Greater China region, slowing during the course of the year. As a result, it said: "These factors led to the low demand for trading and affected freight rates adversely."

However an aggressive asset reshuffling programme has helped Courage Marine narrow its net loss for the first nine months to $9.4m from $13.3m in the first nine months of 2011.