ICELANDIC sea and logistics transportation company Eimskip first quarter revenue dropped 24 per cent to US$177 million, at a loss of $54.3 million after tax following a financial year of asset write downs, loan guarantees with a failed UK airline and sharp drops in Atlantic island imports.

Its pending acquisition of two Canadian cold storage companies has been delayed from March because of financial market troubles, said CEO Gylfi Sigfusson in a report from Newark's Journal of Commerce.

Its loss of $875 million in its last financial year ending October 2008 was partly affected by the under performance of its Finnish container line Containerships, of which it owns 65 per cent.

Mr Sigfusson said the restructuring of the company is expected by end of June alongside the sale for the cold storage companies complete at a lower price of $1 billion previously estimated.