Continued teething problems at Ocean Network Express (ONE) continue to dog the financial performance at Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL).
The Japanese shipowner has seen half year net income slashed by 56% to JPY 5.7bn ($50.3m) due to the weaker performance at its liner segment, figures released Wednesday showed.
Revenue for the first six months was down 24.3% year-on-year to JPY 619.8bn. The shipowner was also hit by a 42% increase in bunker prices.
“With respect to Ocean Network Express (ONE)…results fell below expectations despite synergies generated through business integration having emerged sooner than initially anticipated,” MOL said.
“This was due to a drop in liftings and utilization rates resulting from the impact of teething problems immediately after the commencement of services in April this year, which failed to recover even during the summer peak season.”
MOL said the situation was compounded by the additional negative effects from increased costs of returning containers to Asia, given a decrease in liftings on backhaul voyages from North America and Europe to Asia.
