Vapores Sees 'Important' 2009 Losses as Demand Slows

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

30 Jan 2009

Cia. Sudamericana de Vapores SA, Latin America’s biggest container ship company, forecast “important” losses this year and said it will reduce services. Vapores reported a net loss of $38.6 million last year, compared with profit of $117 million a year earlier, as the worst global crisis since the Great Depression stifles demand at a time of rising shipping supply.
“We will probably have important losses in 2009,” the company wrote. “A significant part of these losses should occur in the first quarter.” Vapores will incur losses on fuel hedges this year, mostly in the first quarter, it wrote.
The shares fell 1.6 percent to 421 pesos at 10:30 a.m. New York time in Santiago. Vapores tumbled 61 percent last year.
The Valparaiso, Chile-based company is implementing cost savings plans and will cut services between Asia and northern Europe this quarter, it wrote in a statement on the regulator’s Web site today accompanying its 2008 financial results.

Source: Bloomberg