Norden’s new bulk orders costs half billion dolar

Norden has revealed a near half billion dollar newbuilding crusade as it looks to take advantage of low prices.
Carsten Mortensen-led Norden has ordered or chartered 13 new bulkers since pled-ging to invest in dry tonnage last year following a period of focusing on building its wet fleet.
Norden revealed the new-building blitz, which also includes four tankers first revealed by TradeWinds some months ago, as it booked a disappointing first quarter result.
It says spending on fuel efficient dry and wet newbuildings since last October runs to $445m, including the charter contracts.
Mortensen said in a statement: “In the last couple of months, Norden has taken advantage of the attractive newbuilding prices to expand the newbuilding programme by a total of 17 fuel efficient vessels.
“The company will thus be in a strong position when the markets become more balanced.”
The dry ordering seems to have caught the market by surprise, with Clarksons listing just one bulker in its newbuilding book for the Danish owner.
Norden says it has ordered two Kamsarmax newbuildings and four handymaxes to its own account. It is reported late last year Norden was paying a shade under $30m for each of the an 82,000-dwt ice-class kamsarmax at Oshima Shipbuilding.
It has also chartered an additional two new kamsarmaxes on seven year deals with purchase options and five handies on long-term contracts, of which all bar one includes an option to buy. Last year Norden booked four 52,000-dwt tankers at STX in Korea at $32m each.
Norden reported an operating loss of $7m for the first quarter as a strong showing from its tanker division was not enough to counter a difficult dry-cargo market.
Analysts say EBITDA of $10m for the quarter fell short of the $16.9m consensus.
Mortensen said in a video to investors: “We are taking advantage of the fluctuations provided by a cyclical business. Because even though earnings for the first quarter are unimpressive, they are also not unexpected.
“As already announced, 2013 will be a difficult year earnings-wise. Therefore, we are spending time investing in the future and clearing out the expensive vessels from the past.”