FIRST quarter results from Hong Kong’s Orient Overseas Container Line show international box trades continue the slide in revenues evident in 2023.
The trans-Pacific and the Intra-Asia/Australasia trades were the only ones to show growth in volumes, with the latter rising an impressive 11.3% year-on-year for Q1 to 863,419 TEU from 775,955 TEU. But despite this, revenue on the latter slipped a significant 17.4%, from US$724.377 million in Q1 23 to $598.384 million in Q1 24.
The unaudited operational update for OOCL for the first quarter ended 31 March 2024 shows total revenues decreased by 9.0% to US$1,980.3 million, as compared to the same period in 2023. Total liftings increased by 3.4% and the loadable capacity increased by 2.2%. The overall load factor was 0.9% higher than the same period in 2023.
However, overall average revenue per TEU decreased by 12.0% compared to the first quarter of last year.
OOCL, whose immediate parent is the Hong Kong-listed Orient Overseas (International) Ltd, is ultimately owned by China’s COSCO. OOIL offered no analysis or forward projections with the Q1 results.
