Agence France-Presse, Singapore

Agence France-Presse, Singapore

Singapore's Neptune Orient Lines' (NOL) said Wednesday it will
cut over 1,000 jobs worldwide after its net loss in 2002 widened
to US$330.156 million from $56.366 million a year ago.

The deterioration in the company's financial accounts was due
mainly to a charge of $109 million for exceptional items and
depressed freight rates, the state-linked shipping liner said in
a statement.

NOL's 2002 losses had been anticipated by the company in a
previous profit warning, and officials were confident of a
substantial improvement this year following cost-cutting moves.

Its 2002 revenues shrank two percent to $4.6 billion.

"While 2002 was tough for the industry as a whole, it was
particularly tough for NOL," said Cheng Wai Keung, NOL's group
chairman.

"We were geared for growth just as the tide of world trade
ebbed, and we did not adjust quickly enough to the changed
circumstances," he said.

For this year, Cheng said the firm would concentrate on
reducing expenses and this would involve cutting some 1,100 jobs
worldwide.

"During 2003, we are looking to further reduce general and
administrative costs as well as operating costs, and this will
include some headcount reduction although this will not be across
the board, but as a result of the core businesses looking for
greater efficiencies," he said.

"We are also paring down our costs, managing our yield closely
and working hard to recover rates. Our target is sustainable
profitability and we anticipate a substantial improvement in
performance in 2003," Cheng said.

The shipping firm is still looking for a chief executive after
Danish-born Flemming Jacobs stepped down from his post last month
before his contract ended next year

The results were released after the Singapore stock market
closed Wednesday. Shares in NOL ended steady at 52.59 U.S.
cents).