ACL’S SECOND-QUARTER PROFITS RECOVER

ACL’S SECOND-QUARTER PROFITS RECOVER    Atlantic Container Line reported a recovery in its results for the second quarter, with net profits reaching 62 million Swedish krona ($7 million), more than three times the net result of SKr17 million reported for the year -earlier quarter.
   Income before interest was SKr96 million ($11 million), up from SKr44 million in the second quarter of 1999.
   Operating revenue was SKr714 million ($80 million), up 24 percent when compared to the revenue of SKr576 million reported a year ago.
   ACL said that the westbound Atlantic trades for both roll-on/roll-off and containers were “extremely strong” in the latest quarter, and vessel utilization increased to 79 percent, from 68 percent in the second quarter of 1999.
   Westbound container freight rates have “improved steadily” since the third quarter of 1999, when rates bottomed out at the lowest levels in ACL’s 33-year history, the company said. Eastbound, freight rates have been almost flat.
      For the first six months of the year, ACL reported a net profit of SKr97 million ($11 million), up from SKr30 million in the same period of 1999. Operating revenue for the first half of this year was SKr1.38 billion ($156 million), as compared to SKr1.1 billion a year ago.
   ACL had suffered a profit downturn last year because of the severe rate competition in the transatlantic container trade.