Bermuda Container Lines Ltd. (BCL) yesterday announced that its earnings through the first nine months of 2008 fell 13.3 percent to $2.82 million after a substantial fall in investment income.

And a dramatic reduction in imports since mid-October does not bode well for the company's 2009 prospects.

BCL estimated that between October 1 last year and January 15 this year, 600 fewer containers were brought into Bermuda than in the corresponding period 12 months earlier - a decrease of around nine percent.

The shipping company said there had been a "healthy growth" in operating earnings from its shipping service between the Island and New Jersey. But this was more than offset by decrease in investment income and the fall in earnings from Somers Isles Shipping Ltd. (SISL), which operates its Bermuda-Florida service.

Net income was $435,000 lower than for the same period in 2007 and BCL said the outlook for 2009 was "not bright".

"The margins for both the BCL and SISL shipping services are being squeezed at a time of falling cargo volumes while we cannot expect much contribution to profit from investment income," BCL's earnings press release stated yesterday.

BCL's financial assets are currently held in low-risk investments such as short-term bank deposits and money market accounts. Returns are low, but the chances of investment losses are reduced.

BCL said the rates it will pay for docks services will rise this year at both the Bermuda and US ends of its routes. In Bermuda, stevedoring rates increased between six percent and 30 percent on January 1, 2009. The 30-percent increase relates to overtime and standby charges which im,pact BCL's scheduled Sunday afternoon arrival on the Island.

BCL's directors declared a special year-end dividend of 25 cents per share, down 30 cents from the the 2007 year-end payment, plus an unchanged quarterly dividend of 14 cents per share for the first quarter. Both dividends are payable on February 12 to shareholders of record as of February 5, 2009.