SINGAPORE (Yosefardi) – Shipping company Mercator Lines posted 26% fall in revenues for the financial year ended March 31, 2013 due to falling rates of vessels.

Mercator booked service revenues of US$108.66 million, down 26% from the previous financial year.

Coupled with only 10% decline in vessel-related costs and huge one-time loss of US$52.6 million related to disposal of marine vessel, Mercator then booked net loss of US$77.7 million against profit of US$7.8 million in the previous financial year.

Revenues from India, Hong Kong, and Luxembourg customers declined substantially in the period.

Mercator pointed to 59% drop in Baltic Panamax Index in the financial year, while average rate of TC Panamax dropped from US$9400/day in FY12 to US$7600/day in FY13.