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Loadable capacity increased by 7.4% as all its latest ultra-large container vessels came into service, although the line accepted a slight drop in overall load factor to achieve its revenue gains

HONG KONG-based container line and Cosco Shipping Holdings unit Orient Overseas Container Line continued its good performance in 2018, increasing total volumes as well as revenues while accepting the challenge of filling bigger ships during the first full year when all its latest ultra-large container vessels were in service as loadable capacity increased by 7.4%.

Total volumes increased by 6.3% to 6.7m teu in 2018, while total revenues rose 9.9% to $6.0bn. OOCL accepted that making money would have to come at some cost, with overall load factor 0.8% lower than the previous corresponding period in 2017.  Overall average revenue per teu however increased by 3.4%, leading to overall gains in turnover, the company said in a stock market announcement.

Reflecting broader trends, OOCL’s Asia-Europe trades saw the sharpest gains in 2018, recovering from low levels the year before to post a 14.5% gain in liftings to 1.3m teu while revenues also rose 7.7% to $1.2bn.

On the transpacific trades, no doubt boosted by trade war-related spikes, liftings rose 8.9% to 2.0m teu in 2018 on a 17.9% rise in revenues to $2.4bn.

Meanwhle, intra-Asia/Australasia remained a bread-and-butter business, as the highest volume segment but one in which it was tough to make money. Liftings rose 2.6% to 3.0m teu but generated just a 3.7% rise in revenue to $1.8bn.

Notably OOCL’s figures also showed the late spike in container line performance, revealing that fourth quarter average revenue per teu rose 6.7% from the fourth quarter of 2017, while overall revenue during the period rose 13.5% year-on-year to $1.6bn.