Hong Kong container line Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) has revealed second quarter figures that make very promising reading for shipowners.
The China Cosco Shipping-owned company is always the first out of the blocks with a quarterly update, but provides profit figures later.
In the three months to 30 June, total cargo volumes were 15.4% up at 1.95m teu, compared to same period last year, as markets continued to bounce back from Covid-19 effects on demand.
Total revenue increased by 119% to $3.5bn year-on-year. First quarter revenue was $3bn.
Vessel capacity increased by 12.4%, while the overall load factor was 2.2% higher than in the same period in 2020.
Box revenue soars
OOCL said average revenue per teu was 89.7% higher than in 2020.
The biggest cargo growth was seen in intra-Asian and Australasian markets, which added 20.5% to reach 875,000 teu.
Trade between Asia and Europe grew 19.4% at 411,000 teu. Revenue for these trips jumped 204% to $1bn, however.
For the first six months of the year, volumes increased by 19.5% to 3.93m teu, while revenue recorded a 107.6% growth to $6.5bn.
Loadable capacity was up 13.7% and the overall load factor was 4.2% higher than the same period in 2020.
The average revenue per teu jumped 73.8%.
TradeWinds has reported that the seemingly unstoppable rise of container freight rates could see the liner industry net a $100bn profit this year.
Shippers are braced for "extreme freight rates" of up to $20,000 per 40-foot equivalent unit (feu) in the coming weeks with the onset of peak season.
