OOCL revenues drop despite increased volumes in Q4 2015

The Hong Kong-based ocean carrier Orient Overseas Container Line said its overall revenue per TEU in the fourth quarter of 2015 fell 17.3 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago.    Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) carried 1,387,719 TEUs in the fourth quarter of 2015, a two percent increase over the same 2014 period.
   But an drop in average revenue per TEU of 17.3 percent meant the company realized revenues of $1.18 billion in the fourth quarter, a sharp 15.6 percent drop from the same period in 2014.
   Orient Overseas (International) Ltd., parent of the Hong Kong-based carrier, releases an “operational update” for OOCL every quarter, weeks earlier than it and other container carriers report full quarterly financial results.
   Though they do not include profit figures (and OOCL is generally one of the best performing carriers), the early OOCL sales and volume numbers are often a bellwether of what to expect as other container carriers report their quarterly earnings in the coming weeks.
   By trade lane, OOCL’s volumes and revenues for the fourth quarter of 2015 were as follows,
     • Transpacific: 336,556 TEUs, up 8.6 percent with revenues of $441.5 million, down 7.9 percent;
     • Asia-Europe: 206,600 TEUs, down 16.4 percent, with revenues of $177.1 million, down 35.6 percent;
     • Transatlantic: 95,232 TEUs, up 5.6 percent, with revenues of $139.5 million, down 4 percent;
     • IntraAsia/Australasia: 749,331 TEUs, up 5.1 percent, with revenues of $422.6 million, down 15.3 percent.
   For the full year, OOCL carried 5,575,874 TEUs, just about the same number — a 0.2 percent decline — as its 2014 volumes. Revenues for the full year 2015 stood at $5.2 billion, a 10.1 percent decline from 2014.
   During the year, loadable capacity increased 6 percent and the company’s overall load factor was 4.4 percent lower than in 2014. Average revenue per TEU in 2015 fell 10 percent compared with the previous year.