Fleet Buildup Drives Bahris Q2 Profit Surge

zoom National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri) has more than doubled its second-quarter results recording SAR 342.48 (USD 91.2 million) in net profit, the company said in its business report for the first six months of the year ending with June 30. This is a considerable increase compared to SAR 130.4 million from the corresponding period in 2014. The companys gross profit amounted to  SAR 440 million also a hike when compared to the same period of the previous year when the profit amounted to SAR 136.9 million. The increase in the net income was mainly attributed to the increase in VLCC fleet from 17 to 31 VLCCs, 5 product tankers and 1 floating storage as a result of completing the merger of Vela Marine International Ltd. assets and operations. Bahri said that the hike was also the increase in average Time Charter Equivalent (TCE) rate in crude oil transportation spot market during the current quarter compared to the corresponding quarter of 2014. However, when compared with the previous quarter 14.4% decrease is reported in net profit as the net profit for the previous quarter totaled in SAR 398.4 million. Bahro added that the dip in the net income on quarterly basis  is mainly due to the decrease in average TCE rate in crude oil transportation spot market compared to the previous quarter and the decrease in company share in profit of Petredec Limited by SAR 41.8 million (current quarter: SAR 8.1 million vs. previous quarter: SAR 41.9 million.) The results have been published on the back of Bahris order with Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries to build five additional VLCCs at the yard increasing the orderbook to ten ships. World Maritime News Staff