Seaboard bounces back on higher cargo volumes

Seaboard bounces back on higher cargo volumes    Seaboard Marine has bounced back into sizeable profits, with a third-quarter operating income of $17 million on sales of $125 million, compared to a loss of $1 million and revenue of $99 million in the same quarter of 2003.
   Seaboard, the parent company of U.S./South America specialist Seaboard Marine, said the improved results reflected increased rates and cargo volumes in the latest quarter. Its activities in 2003 were hurt by a lengthy general strike and economic slump in Venezuela.
   Sales from the maritime arm rose $26 million or 26 percent in the third quarter. Seaboard said this was due to “higher average cargo rates, especially in the third quarter, and higher cargo volumes.”
   “While the political and economic instability remains in Venezuela and that market has not fully recovered, cargo volumes have continued to increase during 2004,” Seaboard said.
   For the first nine months of the year, Seaboard Marine posted an operating income of $41 million, compared to a breakeven result in the corresponding period of 2003. Revenue in the latest nine-month period rose 20 percent to $354 million from $296 million. Seaboard Marine’s operating margin as a percentage of revenue climbed to 12 percent in the nine-month period, from zero in the first nine months of 2003.