OOCL second-quarter revenues up, volumes down

Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) said that although second-quarter volumes were down 4.6% year-over-year, total revenues increased 1.1%.

OOCL’s parent company, Orient Overseas (International) Ltd. (OOIL), covered the second quarter of 2020 in a one-paragraph overview dated Friday.

According to the release, second-quarter revenues totaled $1.58 billion. Average revenue per twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) increased 5.9% compared to the same period last year.

OOCL said loadable capacity decreased by 6.4% year-over-year. The overall load factor was 1.6% higher than the same period in 2019.

OOCL typically provides little or no commentary in its earnings releases. Its second-quarter release was no different.

A second paragraph covered the first six months of 2020. OOCL said total volumes decreased 2.6% in that period compared to 2019. Loadable capacity decreased 4.2% compared to the first half of last year, but the overall load factor was 1.3% higher.

Revenues, however, were 3.2% higher in the first half of 2020 than in 2019. OOCL said the overall average revenue per TEU increased 6% in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2019.

OOCL has managed to increase revenues throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. It said in April that despite the turbulent times of the coronavirus crisis, it had managed to increase its year-over-year first-quarter revenue by 5.5%.

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.