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is after net extraordinary expenses of $49 million, including a fine from the US Department of Justice of $42.5 mil- lion and other costs directly related to this issue. Time-charter results per day remained stable during the first and second quarter 2003, but fell five percent in the third quarter. Time-charter results per day in the third quarter 2003 were two percent higher than in the same quarter 2002. Voyage expenses were higher than in the same period last year due to high bunker cost. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBIT- DA) for the first nine months 2003 were $125 million, up from $117 million for the first nine months 2002. Operating result (EBIT) was $58 million in the first nine months 2003, compared to $53 million in the same period 2002. Operating expenses as well as general and administrative expenses were high- er than in the same period 2002, mainly due to a weaker U.S. dollar. On August 1, 2003, the company took delivery of the 39,900-dwt newbuilding M/T Bow Sun from Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa in Poland. Bow Sun is the first ship in a series of six to eight newbuildings from the Polish yard. Late September 2003 the company entered into agreements with Japanese interests for the long-term time-charter of two 30,000-dwt newbuildings. The ships will be built at Kitanihon Shipyard in Japan with deliveries in August 2005 and May 2006 respectively. The initial time-charter period is nine years with the company's options to extend the charters another two or three years. Furthermore, the company has purchase options for the ships through- out the charter period. The ships will have 28 cargo tanks, all made of stain- less steel. In August 2003, Odfjell signed an agreement with Christian F. Ahrenkiel GmbH & Co. KG of Hamburg, Germany, to establish a 50/50 joint-venture for marketing and opera- tion of chemical tankers in inter- European trade. The plan is for the joint- venture to become operational by year- end 2003. Aker Finnyards Will Convert Finnjet Aker Finnyards and Silja Oyj Abp signed a letter of intent on the docking and conversion of GTS Finnjet. The work will commence in May 2004. There will be considerable techni- cal modernization and improvement onboard. The plan for renewing the pas- senger spaces has been made by Partner Ship Design architects, specialized on cruise vessels. Aker Finnyards has in the recent years made conversions of Silja's December 2003 other vessels, too: Wasa Queen, Silja Europa, Silja Festival. The conversion work is estimated to six weeks. GTS Finnjet will start sailing on route Rostock-Tallinn-StPetersburg in June 2004. I.M. Skaugen Completes its Newbuild Program I.M. Skaugen ASA, Oslo (IMSK) took delivery of its sixth vessel in the new- building program, MV Norgas Napa, on October 31, 2003. The vessel was built by the Hudong - Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group in Shanghai, China. The comple- tion of the newbuilding program com- bined with the new alliance with A.P. M0ller - Maersk have placed Norgas Carriers and Maersk, with the joint ven- ture MNGC, a one of the world's leading News gas carriers. The Norgas fleet currently consists of 19 gas carriers (18 with eth- ylene carrying capacity) has about 150,000 cbm capacity. The age of the Norgas fleet have with these new vessels been reduced to an average of 16 years. The total delivered cost (incl. of all pre delivery cost such as supervision and financing cost during construction) is about $21.5 million per vessel. JCJE-410F Inmarsat Fleet F77 Mobile Earth Station Single modular structure with internal AC PSU, for simple installation IjRC] Multiple interfaces: Ethernet, CJSB, ISDN (BRI), Serial and PCMCIA Communication capabilities: Mobile Packet Data Services (MPDS) MHHH ISDN Link 64k HSD communications High MTBF antenna with automatic positioning by internal JRC GPS JHS-180 Automatic Identification System Fully compliant with IMO/IEC standards Easy installation thanks to integrated GPS/VHF antenna and transponder Expandable interfacing radar, ECDIS and long-range tracking JAN-901 ECDIS/Total Navigator Fully compliant with IMO/IEC standards Large 23.1-inch LCD Automatic track-keeping system AIS/ARPA target display North-up/course-up in multi-views JCY-1000 Voyage Data Recorder Fully compliant with IMO/IEC standards LAN connection, enabling reduction in cabling DVD playback of voyage events JRC[ flapan Radio Co., JEid. Visit www.jrc.co.jp Circle 216 on Reader Service Card 11 The JRC "OceanExplorer" is the world's first certified integrated bridge system (IBS) for vessels of unlimited size. It was Wl-ANTS type-approved by Det Norske Veritas (DNV) on November 14, 2001. "OceanExplorer" Integrated Bridge System
