Container shipping bellwether Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) has posted a set of first-quarter figures showing a clear decline in revenue and volumes.
OOCL, the Cosco-owned line listed in Hong Kong through parent OOIL, is always the first of the major boxship players to post quarterly data.
Its latest update shows total revenue decreased 57.8% to $2.18bn year-on-year.
The biggest drop in revenue terms came on trades between Asia and Europe, which brought in $489m, down from $1.5bn in the first three months of 2022.
Transpacific revenue was 65.6% lower at $650m, but transatlantic trade actually grew 4.7% to reach $312m, as liftings jumped 25.5% to 128,000 teu.
Total volumes were down at 1.74m teu, 3.2% lower than the 1.8m transported a year ago.
The drop in boxes carried on other routes was not so stark as revenue declines in teu terms.
OOCL’s ships carried 6.4% fewer boxes on transpacific routes at 446,000 teu, while Asia/Europe trades were down 4.4% at 388,000.
And loadable capacity increased slightly by 0.7%.
Revenue per teu plummets
But the overall load factor was 3.3% lower than the same period in 2022, and average revenue per teu plunged 56.4% compared to the first quarter of last year.
Full profit figures will be published at a later date.
OOIL logged earnings of $9.9bn for the whole of 2022, beating the previous record of $7.1bn set a year earlier.
Around 70% of that profit — or $6.97bn — is to be paid out in dividends.
In March, the company said the business outlook was “mixed”, however.
Freight rates had fallen to their pre-pandemic levels on many trade lanes, and load factors were often below optimal levels.
And there was unlikely to be any recovery before the second half of the year, due to the increasing number of ships being delivered, the owner added.
