CMB SEES 41% FALL IN 2002 RESULTS

CMB SEES 41% FALL IN 2002 RESULTS    The consolidated result for 2002 of CMB, the diversified Belgian shipping group, fell by about 41 percent, to approximately 48 million euro ($46 million), from 82 million euro in 2001.
   The group’s dry bulk shipping arm, Bocimar, posted a loss of about 53 million ($51 million) last year, as compared to a deficit of 19 million euro in 2001.
   CMB’s tanker shipping unit, Euronav, suffered a 6 million euro ($6 million) deficit in 2002, as compared to an 85-million-euro profit the year before.
   The group’s gas shipping arm, Exmar, saw its profit decline to 1 million euro (about $1 million), from 23 million euro in 2001.
   However, the CMB holding also made a large capital gain of 104 million euro ($100 million) in 2002 on the sale of its shareholding in container terminal operator Hesse-Noord Natie to Singapore-based PSA Corp.
   CMB said that the capesize bulk shipping market saw “a spectacular recovery” in the fourth quarter of 2002, and that the market for the transport of crude oil has also recovered remarkably during the fourth quarter.