Watch Now


OOCL revenue up in turbulent times

Hong Kong-based shipping line says first-quarter volume was down less than half a percent despite pandemic

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Orient Overseas Container Line increased its Q1 revenue by 5.5%. (Photo: OOCL)

During the turbulent times of the coronavirus pandemic, Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) managed to increase its year-over-year first-quarter revenue by 5.5%.

Parent company Orient Overseas (International) Ltd. (OOIL) reported that OOCL had Q1 revenue of $1.54 billion, compared to $1.46 billion in 2019.

While revenue for the trans-Pacific trade was flat at $558.4 million, intra-Asia/Australasia was up 10.8% to $505.4 million and the trans-Atlantic trade up 6% to $149 million.

OOCL’s Q1 volumes in total were down only 0.4% year-over-year, from 1,605,564 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to 1,598,422. The largest volume gain was in the trans-Atlantic, up 8.7%, while the biggest decline was in intra-Asia/Australasia, down 4.5%.


The two-page operational update said loadable capacity decreased by 1.7% during Q1; the overall load factor was 1.1% higher year-over-year; and average revenue per TEU increased 6% from the same period last year.

OOIL typically releases bare-bones quarterly reports ahead of most container carriers’ financials. OOCL traditionally has outperformed much of the liner industry.

Last month Hong Kong-based OOCL announced it had signed contracts for five 23,000-TEU container ships, each costing $155.6 million. Delivery is expected to begin in 2023.

China’s COSCO Shipping Holdings acquired a 75% stake in OOIL in 2018. OOCL, COSCO, CMA CGM and Evergreen are members of the Ocean Alliance, one of the space-sharing agreements among container liner companies.


OOIL said in March it realized a $1.15 billion profit from the sale of the Long Beach Container Terminal and that its full-year gross profit increased from $712 million to $809 million.

“It is a tribute to the professionalism and the ‘we take it personally’ spirit of our staff that we managed to navigate these challenging times so smoothly,” OOIL said.

Kim Link Wills

Senior Editor Kim Link-Wills has written about everything from agriculture as a reporter for Illinois Agri-News to zoology as editor of the Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine. Her work has garnered awards from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Magazine Association of the Southeast. Prior to serving as managing editor of American Shipper, Kim spent more than four years with XPO Logistics.