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).