Tropical expects better earnings in 2013

   The parent company of Tropical Shipping said it expects the Caribbean carrier to have higher earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) in 2013 than last year.
   AGL Resources, a natural gas utility that acquired Tropical as a result of its purchase in December 2011 of Nicor, an Illinois-based gas utility, said it expected Tropical to have EBIT of $10 million to $20 million in 2013 compared to the $8 million it recorded in 2012. (That positive EBIT came as a result of a positive $9 billion EBIT in the fourth quarter of the year.)
   Tropical had revenue of $342 million in 2012 and $94 million in the fourth quarter of 2012.
   Results were reported Wednesday by AGL, but it did not provide comparable financials for the full year 2011.
   AGL said Tropical’s volumes were higher in 2012 than in 2011, but that improvement was partially offset by lower shipping rates. It said Tropical moved 170,000 TEUs in 2012 and had vessel utilization of 77 percent in 2012 compared to vessel utilization of 73 percent in 2011. – Chris Dupin