Icelandic container line Eimskip has revealed it has cut 55 jobs as it closes and merges offices.

The company said it decided during the third quarter to shut its base in Belgium and integrate part of the operation into the Rotterdam office.

This will mean 11 full-time posts being lost.

A one-off redundancy payment will be booked in the fourth quarter, but an "annual operational improvement" of between €0.3m ($0.33m) and €0.4m is expected as a result.

The office in Murmansk, Russia, was closed in the period and responsibility for the area moved to Sortland in Norway.

It has also merged or consolidated a few other offices into single locations, it said, adding: "This is in line with the current journey to streamline and focus on core operations."

A total of 55 jobs have been axed in 2019, bringing the workforce to 1,750.

The company said: "Streamlining and integration projects are paying off as can be seen in lower cost, eg in head office functions and operations in general."

Salary expenses are down by €4.7m year-on-year, of which €3.4m is due to streamlining measures.

Profit up in third quarter

Net earnings in the three months to 30 September amounted to €7.1m, compared to €6.3m in the same quarter last year. Revenue was down 5.3% to €172.5m.

Transported volumes in liner services decreased by 5.1%, affected by lower levels of import to Iceland and lower export volumes during July and August in Iceland and the Faroe Islands.

The decline was partially offset by strong growth in trans-Atlantic business.

EBITDA was up at €22.7m in the third quarter, versus €17.6m in the same quarter last year.

CEO Vilhelm Mar Thorsteinsson said: “I am satisfied with the overall performance in the third quarter and first nine months of the year which was in line with expectations despite lower import levels to Iceland.

"I am pleased to see that EBITDA and net profit of our forwarding operations increased between years although volume declined as a result of discontinued business and trade tension."

Containerships

Eimskip axes 55 workers and closes two offices