Seanergy Maritime's bottom line fell deeper into the red, thanks to a a major fall in iron-ore supply following winter breach of Vale's Brumadinho dam.
The New York-listed capesize owner posted an $8.64m loss versus a $3.44m deficit a year earlier.
Net revenue dropped 25% to $16m, mostly due to the iron-ore giant's closure of 50 tailing dams taking 40 million tonnes of the commodity off the market.
“During the first quarter of 2019, the Company’s financial performance was negatively impacted by the severe disruptions in the iron ore trade due to the tragedy at Vale’s Brumadinho mine," chief executive Stamatis Tsantanis said.
US-China trade tensions and weather conditions in Australia also hampered supply, he said.
He noted that his company's and the Baltic Capesize Index's TCE rates both fell by a third during the quarter, but he remains optimistic for the rest of 2019, especially since rates have returned to $14,000 per day.
"The negative impact of all these events appears to be behind us. During the second quarter we have seen a strong recovery in the capesize market which has so far been reflected in our operating performance," he said.
