OOCL posts strong revenue, volume gains in 4th quarter

OOCL posts strong revenue, volume gains in 4th quarter Hong Kong’s Orient Overseas (International) Ltd., parent of ocean carrier OOCL, today reported unaudited double-digit revenue and box volume gains in the fourth quarter of 2007.
   OOCL’s revenue for the last three months of 2007 increased 27 percent to $1.40 billion from $1.10 billion a year earlier. Average revenue per TEU was up 10.7 percent as the carrier’s global volumes increased 14.8 percent to 1.19 million TEUs. The overall load factor was down 6 percent from the same period in 2006 with a 23.6 percent increase in loadable capacity as scheduled newbuildings were delivered and deployed, OOIL said.
   The carrier’s biggest gain in revenue during the fourth quarter came in the Asia/Europe market, which posted a 49.8 percent rise to $346.1 million, despite a slender 2.7 percent increase in box volumes to 187,646 TEUs.
   OOCL’s quarterly revenue from the transpacific trade improved 15.5 percent in the fourth quarter to $498.4 million with volumes rising 15.1 percent to 337,903 TEUs.
   Revenue from OOCL’s services in the transatlantic trade rose 18.4 percent to $173.1 million after a volume gain of 16.1 percent to 101,650 TEUs.
   Intra-Asia/Australasia revenue improved 30.4 percent to $385.8 million following a volume increase of 19.1 percent to 562,510 TEUs.
   For the whole of 2007, OOCL’s revenue increased 21.1 percent to $5.15 billion from $4.25 billion in 2006. OOCL transported a total of 4.60 million TEUs, up 18.2 percent.
   OOIL said OOCL’s overall load factor in 2007 was down 3.5 percent with a 23.4 percent increase in loadable capacity. Overall average revenue per TEU improved 2.6 percent.