Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) carried 1,579,578 TEUs in the first quarter of 2018, 7.5 percent more than in the same 2017 period. Revenues in the same period were about $1.38 billion, up 16.3 percent from the first quarter of 2017.
The brief operational report from OOCL’s parent company, Orient Overseas (International) Ltd., said its loadable capacity increased by 16 percent and the overall load factor was 6.4 percent lower than the same period in 2017. Overall average revenue per TEU increased by 8.3 perent compared to the first quarter of last year.
OOCL’s volumes were up 16.3 in the transpacific, up 20.5 percent in the Asia-Europe trade lane and up 2.2 percent in the transatlantic but down 1.1 percent in the intraAsia/Australasia trade lanes. Revenue, however, was up across the board: up 19.2 percent in the transpacific, up 23.8 percent in the Asia-Europe trade lane, up 1.9 percent in the transatlantic and up 13 percent in the intraAsia/Australasia trade lanes.
An acquisition of Hong Kong-based OOIL by China’s COSCO Shipping Holdings and Shanghai International Port (Group) was announced last year but is still pending, awaiting regulatory approval.