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Another big deficit for Murmansk Shipping Company

The financial results of the MSCO are below the freezing point. Photo: msco.ru

One of the world’s biggest shipping operators in the Arctic, the Murmansk Shipping Company, has another year with major deficits.

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Third quarter figures show that the MSCO has not yet managed to overcome its troubled economic situation. In the first nine months of the year, the company had a 560,6 million RUB (€14 million) deficit, newspaper Murmansk Vestnik reports.

The deficit is down 37 percent from the same period last year. However, the company remains in a vulnerable economic situation. The turnover of the company in the period dropped by 8,8 percent to a total of 3,5 billion RUB.

The economic difficulties of the shipping company comes in the wake of major changes in Arctic shipping. The company’s former biggest client, the Norilsk Nickel, is building its own fleet of vessel and has consequently become independent of the services of MSCO.

Despite a general hike in Arctic industrial activities, the MSCO has not yet found clients, which can replace the role of the Norilsk Nickel.

Until 2008, the MSCO managed the fleet of Russian nuclear-powered icebreakers. However, these vessels are today operated by the Rosatomflot, the state-owned nuclear power company.

The Murmansk Shipping Company today has a fleet of 27 vessels, of which six are tankers, 18 bulk carriers and one icebreaker. The company is owned by the Arctic Technologies 61,78%) and the Russian state (25,5%)