Eimskip’s net earnings soar 21.1% in Q1

The Icelandic liner carrier posted net earnings of 1.8 million euros on revenues of 113.3 million euros for the first quarter of 2016, a year-over-year increase of 21.1 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.    Eimskip saw net earnings surge 21.1 percent year-over-year for the first quarter of 2016 to 1.8 million euros (U.S. $2 million), the company said.
   The Icelandic liner carrier’s revenues for the quarter totaled 113.3 million euros, a modest increase of 0.5 percent year-over-year. Eimskip President and CEO Gylfi Sigfússon noted that lower cargo rates in international freight forwarding affected revenues growth for the quarter.
   In addition, Eimskip’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the quarter jumped 66.5 percent from the first quarter of 2015 to 9.6 million euros.
   Transported volumes for the North Atlantic liner services rose 8.1 percent year-over-year mainly due to strong growth related to Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Norway.
   Meanwhile, transported volumes for the forwarding services (consisting of reefer and dry cargo forwarding) increased 5.9 percent from the first quarter of 2015. Although dry cargo forwarding has remained on a stable track, reefer cargo forwarding experienced a slow start this year due to the economic conditions in China.
   Looking ahead, Eimskip anticipates the full year EBITDA to range between 49 million euros and 53 million euros.
   Overall, Eimskip operates with 20 vessels, in which 13 are owned and seven are chartered.
   The carrier operates five liner services, which include the Green Line, the Blue Line, the Yellow Line, the Gray Line and the Orange Line.
   Ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting illustrates the Green Line operates between North Europe and the East Coast of North America utilizing three containerships with an average capacity of 711 TEUs.
   The Blue Line and Yellow Line, which both operate on the intra-North Europe trade with two containerships each, have an average vessel capacity of 1,457 TEUs and 1,750 TEUs, respectively.
   The Gray Line serves the intra-North Europe trade with two multi-purpose vessels with an average capacity of 505 TEUs, while the Orange Line also caters to the intra-North Europe trade with four reefer vessels with an average capacity of 40 TEUs.
   In addition to these five liner services, which combined deploy 13 vessels, Eimskip has three vessels in spot services, three vessels in ferry operation and one vessel that is utilized for bulk cargo.