A.P. MOLLER’S TANKER AND LINER SHIPPING ARM MOVES INTO THE RED

A.P. MOLLER’S TANKER AND LINER SHIPPING ARM MOVES INTO THE RED    A.P. Moller group's Tankers and Liners in Partnership arm moved into the red in 2001 with a loss of DKr329 ($39 million), as Maersk Sealand suffered from the slowdown in container trade and lower freight rates.
   The 2001 loss for A.P. Moller’s Tankers and Liners in Partnership unit, which includes some of the activities of Maersk Sealand, compares with a net profit of DKr945 million in 2000.
   The tanker/liner unit’s result before gains on sale and special items fell 65 percent to DKr886 million ($105 million), from DKr2.6 billion in 2000. The unit’s revenue increased 5 percent to DKr77.9 billion ($9.2 billion).
   “Cargo volumes and freight rates for container vessels were under pressure from the beginning of the year due to stagnant world trade and addition of tonnage,” Denmark's A.P. Moller said, commenting on the 2001 results of its shipping activities. “Volumes transported were slightly above those of 2000, but the average freight rates considerably lower.”
   The Danish group said its container activities results were below 2000, and lower than expected.
   Eivind Kolding, chief financial officer of A.P. Moller, said the lower result from container shipping was the main reason for the fall in the group’s result from shipping.
   Besides its Maersk Sealand business, A.P. Moller also operates very large crude carriers, product carriers, gas carriers, dry bulk carriers, supply vessels and cable-laying vessels.
   A.P. Moller’s shipping activities, representing the combined results of the group’s A/S Dampskibsselskabet Svendborg and Dampskibsselskabet Af 1912 A/S shipping companies and those of the Tankers and Liners in Partnership, produced a result before gains on sale and special items of DKr2.5 billion ($296 million), down 35 percent from 2000. The combined net result of the shipping activities for 2001 was a profit of DKr4.1 billion ($487 million), virtually unchanged from 2000, thanks to a transfer of profits from the group’s oil and gas activities. Revenue from shipping activities increased 5 percent to DKr79.3 billion ($9.4 billion).
   A.P. Moller said its very large crude carriers’ and product carriers’ results for 2001 were “good and above that of 2000,” the result from gas carriers was “unsatisfactory and at the level of 2000,” dry bulk carriers’ results were “negative and significantly below that of last year” and car carriers “achieved a satisfactory profit that was above that of 2000.”
   A.P. Moller warned that it expects Maersk Sealand to have a net loss this year.
   The group expects average freight rates at Maersk Sealand to be about $225 lower per 40-foot container than in 2001, leading to a loss of income of about DKr2 billion ($237 million).
   For the combined shipping activities of the group’s A/S Dampskibsselskabet Svendborg and Dampskibsselskabet Af 1912 A/S shipping companies and Tankers and Liners in Partnership, A.P. Moller forecast a slight decrease in revenue this year, and a loss before special items.
   A.P. Moller’s announcement of poorer results from container shipping follows announcements of sharp decreases in profits last year at P&O Nedlloyd, OOCL and CP Ships, and net losses at Yang Ming Marine Transport and Hanjin Shipping.
   The 2001 financial results of A.P Moller and 17 other shipping companies are posted on the global liner shipping database ComPairData at https://www.compairdata.com .