Good Profitability Noted in Wärtsilä H1 Interim Report
Wärtsilä and China State Shipbuilding Corporation announced the establishment of a joint venture, which will take over Wärtsilä's two-stroke engine business. Going forward, the two-stroke engine business will be reported as discontinued operations. Wärtsilä and China State Shipbuilding Corporation announced the establishment of a joint venture for manufacturing medium and large bore medium-speed diesel and dual-fuel engines. Wärtsilä estimates its profitability for 2014 (EBIT% before non-recurring items) to be around 11.5%, due to the two-stroke business transaction. Net sales are expected to grow by around 5%. Previously Wärtsilä expected its net sales to grow by 0-10% and its operational profitability (EBIT% before non-recurring items) to be around 11%.
BW Group's 1H Performance Better than Expected
Moody's Investors Service says that operating results of BW Group (Ba2 negative) in 1H 2012 were better than expected, largely because of the higher charter rates achieved by the company for its vessels. "We had expected BW Group's performance to weaken, as many of its vessels were coming off profitable time-charters in 1H and it was increasingly exposed to deteriorating spot-market rates. However, spot rates, especially in the gas carrier segments, either held up or improved," says Vikas Halan, a Moody's Vice President and Senior Analyst. The average time charter equivalent or TCE income per day for BW Group's very large gas carriers and large gas carriers rose over 40% from a year ago. The average TCE for very large crude carriers grew about 5%.
New LNG Vessel to Serve Tractebel's Atlantic Basin Customers
Tractebel LNG North America LLC, operator of the United States' first LNG import terminal in Everett, Massachusetts, and Bergesen, based in Oslo, Norway, announced the launch of Berge Everett, a new 138,000 cubic meter liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier that will begin making deliveries for Tractebel under an exclusive, long-term charter. Tractebel LNG North America ("TLNGNA") will use the vessel to transport LNG primarily from Trinidad to the company's Everett LNG receiving terminal, to the EcoElectrica facility in Puerto Rico, and to other LNG facilities in the Atlantic Basin. Constructed at the Daewoo Shipbuilding Yard in South Korea, the Berge Everett is 100% owned by Bergesen.
