Odfjell Terminals has reported Q4 2021 profits of US$3 million (€2.62 million), up from US$1 million in Q3 2021, though still down on Q4 2020’s result of US$6.6 million.
The increase compared to Q3 relates largely to increased revenue at the Houston terminal and a one-off related to insurance proceeds for the Houston terminal’s fire incident and the Texas freeze. The preliminary full year result of 3.8 million is considerably lower than in 2020, when the company reported net results of US$13.5 million. Odfjell says that 2021 has seen ‘challenging circumstances due to COVID-19.’
The average terminal occupancy rate stood at 96.1% in Q4 2021, up slightly from 93.9% in Q3, mostly due to increased occupancy in Houston and Korea. Throughput was down slightly compared to the record levels seen in Q3.
The biggest highlight of 2021 was the conclusion of the final investment decision (FID) on Bay 13 at Odfjell Terminals Houston (OTH) in the US, which will add 32,000 m3 of storage to the terminal, increasing the total capacity of the terminal by 9% to 413,400 m3. Odfjell is also building an additional 35,000 m3 of storage capacity at Antwerp, which is expected to be operational by the end of 2022.
Odfjell says that 2022 in the US has started at a slower pace than expected due to the continued threat of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, but the company remains optimistic. In Europe the high demand for storage is expected to continue through 2022, with increases in commercial occupancy expected in Korea.
Odfjell as a whole reported a Q4 2021 net profit of US$15 million, an increase of US$40 million compared to Q3’s loss of US$25 million, helped by continued strong markets in the East and improving western chemical tanker markets. The company says, however, that Q4 was an ‘encouraging finish to a difficult year.’ Overall, the company reported a net loss for the full year of 2021 of US$33 million. The company says this was largely due to weak chemical tanker markets in the West, despite the strong performance of the terminals business.
‘2021 was another challenging and unpredictable year for Odfjell, where we were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and a weak CPP market. We continue to operate well despite the challenging environment, and we are also ahead of our ambitious plan to reduce emissions. While we are not satisfied reporting negative results, we are encouraged by the quick recovery seen in our markets during the fourth quarter, which is an indicator of the strong underlying fundamentals in our markets. In line with seasonality, the chemical tanker market has seen slightly reduced activity at the start of 2022, and we therefore expect to report slightly lower results in 1Q22,’ says CEO Kristian Mørch
Source: Tank Storage Magazine