Danish shipper D/S Norden expects a challenging year in 2011 due to a difficult dry cargo market which contributed to a fall in first-quarter operating profits. “The dry cargo market in the first quarter was exactly as difficult as one could have feared revealing a 55 percent drop in spot rates,” Chief Executive Carsten Mortensen said in a statement. Mortensen told Reuters that with contract coverage for Norden’s dry-bulk fleet at 86 percent at the end of the quarter, 2011 would be a “mediocre” year in terms of earnings. “We are maintaining our expectations for the full year because this is a challenging year,” he said, adding however that he was satisfied with the first-quarter result. “Dry bulk was hit on all sides in the first quarter, but we have good (contract) coverage and good counterparts so we got a satisfactory result,” he said. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) fell to $30.0 million in January-March from $68.6 million in the first quarter last year, the dry cargo and tanker shipping company said on Thursday. The result beat an average forecast for a drop to $23.0 million in a Reuters survey of analysts whose estimates ranged from $14.0 million to $34.0 million. While low freight rates are expected this year in dry cargo, tanker rates are expected to be higher on average than in the two previous years, Norden said in its statement. Norden stood by its previous full-year 2011 guidance for EBIT in a range of $55 million to $95 million, less than half its $223 million in EBIT for 2010. It also kept its forecast for 2011 earnings before interest, tax depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) unchanged at a range of $135 million to $175 million. (Reuters)