OOCL Reports 7% Revenue Increase

Hong Kong-based Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) said it had revenue of nearly $1.57 billion in the second quarter of 2019, 7.1% more than in the same period last year. In the first half of this year, revenue amounted to nearly $3.03 billion, 6.5% more than in the first half of 2018.

According to OOCL's quarterly operational update, the company handled nearly 1.77 million TEUs of containerized cargo in the second quarter this year, 4.6% more than in the second quarter of 2018. In the first half of 2019, it handled more than 3.37 million TEUs, an increase of 3.2% over the first half of 2018.

OOCL said in the transpacific it carried 502,507 TEUs in the second quarter of 2019, 0.6% fewer than in the second quarter of 2018, but revenue in the transpacific was $622 million in the second quarter of 2019, a 6% improvement over the second quarter of 2018.

In the transatlantic, OOCL's revenue and liftings in the second quarter of 2019 were sharply higher than in the same period last year. The company moved 123,472 TEUs in the transatlantic trade, a 16.3% increase, and revenue was $154 million, a 23.9% increase.

OOCL reported that in the second quarter of 2019 it lifted 366,575 TEUs in the Asia-Europe trade, an increase of 9.4% over the same period the prior year, while in the intra-Asia/Australasia trade, it handled 776,294 TEUs, a 4.3% increase.

Second-quarter revenue in the Asia-Europe trade was up 1.9% year-over-year to $308 million, and second-quarter revenue in the intra-Asia/Australasia trade was up 7.5% year-over-year to about $482 million.

Earlier this week, the 21,413-TEU OOCL Hong Kong made its maiden call to the Port of Hong Kong. The OOCL Hong Kong and her sister G-Class ships will continue to make regular calls to Hong Kong on the company's Asia-North Europe Loop 1 (LL1) service, which has a port rotation of Shanghai – Ningbo – Xiamen – Yantian – Singapore – via Suez Canal – Felixstowe – Zeebrugge – Gdansk – Wilhelmshaven – Piraeus – via Suez Canal – Port Kelang – Hong Kong – Shanghai in a 77-day round trip.

Also this week OOCL announced that because of an expectation of low demand in the market, it was canceling several Asia-Europe sailings in August, September and October as detailed here.

Companies affiliated with COSCO (HKEX:1919) acquired a 75% interest in OOCL's parent company, Orient Overseas (International) Ltd. (HKEX:316), last year. The combined firms are ranked as having the third-largest active containership fleet in the world by Alphaliner.

Image Sourced From Pixabay