Rickmers Group posts net loss for first half 2016

The Hamburg-based maritime services provider reported a net loss of 131.5 million euros for the first half of 2016 on revenues of 249.3 million euros.    Rickmers Group, an international provider of services to the shipping industry, vessel owner and ocean carrier, reported a net loss of 131.5 million euros (net loss of U.S. $146.5 million, based on today’s exchange rate) for the first half of 2016, compared to a positive net earnings result of 2.6 million euros for the corresponding period in 2015.
   Earnings before interest, taxes, debt and amortization for the first half of 2016 tumbled 36.1 percent year-over-year to 87.7 million euros.
   Consolidated revenues fell 13.9 percent from the first half of 2015 to 249.3 million euros.
   “The main underlying factors are the persistently strained market situation, expiring high-margin charter contracts, follow-on charters at the prevalent low market rates, lower freight earnings, and a sharper decline in capacity utilization in the project cargo business,” the company said.
   Based out of Hamburg, Rickmers Group operates a fleet of 121 vessels and averaged 2,222 employees during the first half of 2016.