Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) said its bulker arm cardeda $4.4m deficit in the three months to 31 March, versus a loss of $0.8m in thecomparable period a year prior.

In the Antwerp-based company’s earningsreport it noted the first-quarter was “characterised by seasonally low freightrates” despite “generally held optimism”.

Bocimar’s fleet of capesize bulkerswatched daily earnings drop to $22,740 from $25,075 year-on-year, a decline CMBblamed on “high volatility” in the segment.

“The cape market was once again affectedby amongst other things weather-related factors and the effects of a disruptionin coal exports from Colombia,” it said.

“However, the main cause of thedisappointment originates from the lack of Brazilian iron ore exports that weredown by 25% on the previous quarter.”

In the panamax, supramax and handysize segmentsCMB said daily earnings averaged $10,342, $7,875 and $10,254, respectively, in the first-quarter of this year.

Twelve months prior Bocimar’s panamax,supramax and handysize bulkers logged day rates of approximately $7,690, $7,800and $7,557 on average, respectively.

Today, CMB pointed out that supramaxeswere hit particularly hard by the Indonesian ban on the exportation ofprocessed minerals like nickel ore, iron ore and bauxite.

While freight rates were lacklustreacross the board the company is confident the dry-bulk market will improve inthe second-half of 2014 and full-year 2015.

“This optimism is founded on an active period market forperiods of up to two-years, strong FFAs for the third and fourth quarters of2014 and a second hand market, with very strong prices paid for older capesizevessels,” CMB continued.

The owner, which was quick to point out that the market value ofBocimar’s fleet has increased by more than 10% since the start of 2014, said itis well positioned to cash on a rebound in dry-bulk due to its exposure to the spot market.

While CMB is optimistic about the near-term health of thespace it also acknowledged that an upturn remains heavily dependent on China’sappetite for iron ore, an increase in import volumes and moderate fleet growth thisyear and next.

As TradeWinds has reported, many equityanalysts use Bocimar's freight rate updates as a guide when trying to predict theperformance of compatriots since CMB is typically the firstpublicly-traded bulker owner to file quarterly reports.

CMB is led by chairman Etienne Davignon and its shares trade on NYSE Euronext Brussels. You can read its latest earnings report in full by clicking on the link located under the Related Media section to the right of this article.