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Overall volume rose 9.5% and revenue jumped 16.3%, boosted largely by a strong east-west trade
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All four key trade lanes registered higher liftings and earnings
Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) registered a strong third quarter as volume rose 9.5% and revenue jumped 16.3%, buoyed by a healthy east-west trade.
Parent company Orient Overseas (International) Limited (OOIL) said revenues for the period increased by 16.3% to US$1.91 billion compared to last year, while volumes expanded 9.5% to more than 1.95 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
OOCL’s loadable capacity increased by 5.5% in third quarter ended September 30, 2020. The overall load factor was 3.1% higher than in the same period in 2019. Overall average revenue per TEU increased by 6.2% compared to the third quarter of last year.
All four trade lanes showed volume growth in the third quarter. Trans-Atlantic trade grew +22.6% as against a year ago, trans-Pacific volume rose +11%, intra-Asia/Australasia, +7.6%, and Asia/Europe, +6.9%.
In terms of revenue, the Asia/Europe loop posted the biggest growth at +25.5%; followed by trans-Pacific, +18.4%; intra-Asia/Australasia, 11.5%; and trans-Atlantic, +2.4%.
For the first nine months, the Hong Kong-registered container liner booked a total volume of 5.24 million TEUs, an increase of 1.6% over the same period last year. Total revenues recorded a 7.8% growth, amounting to $5.04 billion, OOIL said.
Loadable capacity from January to September decreased by 0.8%. The overall load factor was 2.0% higher than in the same period in 2019. Overall average revenue per TEU increased by 6.2% compared to the same period last year.
The container shipping market has proven to be resilient in the face of the pandemic, the result of shipping lines’ disciplined capacity management (such as blank sailings) as well as a surprisingly healthy consumer demand. This prompted Drewry to upgrade its container shipping outlook recently to -3.3%, up from its earlier forecast of -7.3%.
Photo courtesy of OOIL
