CMB sees revenue rise from 1Q

   Compagnie Maritime Belge generated 168.11 million in revenue during the second quarter, a rise of more than $20 million over the first quarter.
   However, the Antwerp-based company’s first-half revenue totals 315.96 million, a small decline from the first half of last year.
   The company’s financial result for the period came to $11.72 million, a small increase over the first quarter. For the first half of the year, CMB finished at $24.7 million, a sharp decline from 2012’s result of $91.89 million.
   Bocimar, CMB’s dry bulk sector, declined by $8.8 million in the second quarter, leading to a $9.6-million fall in the first half. The company’s aviation activities through ASL finished at $3.96 million in the second quarter, an increase from the $648,000 result in the first quarter. The aviation sector’s half-year result of $4.61 million still shows it to be off pace from last year.
   Breaking down Bocimar, Capsize finished the first half of the year at $24.18 per day, a decline of nearly $3 from last year. Panamax and post-Panamax earnings have declined by more than $1 per day from last year. Handymax earnings ended the first half of 2013 at $7.64 per day, and Handysize earnings were at $7.41 per day, both declines from last year.
   “In keeping with the seasonal trends of the last two years, the Capesize market has remained the weakest of the four main dry bulk markets during the first half of the year,” according to a company press release. “It was mainly the stagnation in iron ore exports from Brazil that contributed to the Capesize weakness. Only in June did daily TC returns return to more viable levels due to a combination of increased iron ore and coal flows. Bocimar does not rule out a further strengthening or stabilizing of the market in the course of the second semester.”
   The sector will continue to promote slow and super-slow steaming, helping it to achieve spot market returns that are close to average. 
   CMB noted that ASL added five Boeing 737-400 planes during the first half of the year and recently leased three aircraft for passenger charters on behalf of Aer Lingus. – Jon Ross