Family carrier Stolt-Nielsen saw strong bottom line progress in both Q4 and the full-year 2022. CEO expects the positive trend to continue.
Norwegian chemical tanker operator Stolt-Nielsen more than doubled its bottom line in 2022’s last quarter where the company renegotiated many of its contracts.
Outlooks for 2023 are positive as well, says the chief executive.
The carrier’s bottom line totaled USD 95.3m in 2022’s fourth quarter against USD 35m in 2021. The full-year profit increased to USD 280.9m from USD 78.8m the year before.
CEO Niels G. Stolt-Nielsen states that the upswing on the chemical tanker market arrives just as the company had to renegotiate contracts with its customers.
55 percent of contracts were either renewed or renegotiated in Q4 2022 and the beginning of Q1 2023, the carrier writes.
”The average rate increase on the contracts renewed in the fourth quarter was approximately 30 percent, which will have a positive impact on future earnings,” says Niels G. Stolt-Nielsen.
He adds that 16 percent of customers in the contract portfolio had no wish to renew their agreements as they wouldn’t accept new price terms.
”Most of these customers are currently operating in the spot market,” states the chief exec.
Stolt-Nielsen expects the market for seaborne transportation of chemicals to improve even further in upcoming years, especially due to relatively few newbuilds entering the market.
Q4 marked the sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit profits at Stolt-Nielsen.
