SAMUDERA SEES 84% JUMP IN NET PROFIT FOR 2002

SAMUDERA SEES 84% JUMP IN NET PROFIT FOR 2002    Samudera, the Indonesian feeder operator, recorded an 84-percent increase in its net income for 2002, to S$12.6 million ($7 million), from S$7.1 million in the previous year.
   Revenue dipped by 1 percent over the same period, to S$491.2 million ($282 million) in 2002, from S$497.6 million. Samudera said that the fall in its 2002 revenue came from a deterioration of freight rate levels and lower container volumes. This was partly offset by higher revenue from chemical tanker shipping and from forwarding.
   The company’s operating income was up by 89 percent last year, to S$12.8 million ($7 million), from S$6.8 million in 2001.
   Lower charges from PSA Corp., the operator of the port of Singapore, led to a cut in stevedoring charges, it said.
   Samudera warned that the war in the Middle East may reduce export and import cargo volume and raise costs such as insurance, bunker and charter hire expenses.
   In a separate development, Samudera said that its common feeder operator business moved some 280,000 TEUs on services based around Dubai in 2002, about 25 percent more than the year before.
   Within the Middle East Gulf, Samudera has a network that serves all the major ports except Umm Qasr in Iraq and Doha in Qatar. Samudera said that it also has a significant share of the feeder market between the Indian Subcontinent and the Gulf.