GC Rieber Shipping has chopped its first-half loss thanks to higher utilisation as new boss Christian Berg takes the helm today.

The Oslo-listed owner reported a normalised net deficit of NOK 60.8m ($7.6m), compared to NOK 89.3m in the previous year.

This figure included an impairment charge of NOK 25.3m, GC Rieber said.

Fleet utilisation rose from 45% to 81% and the company’s contract backlog stood at NOK 463m.