OOCL sees Q1 revenues tumble 17.1%

The Japanese ocean carrier saw revenues fall 17.1 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2016 to $1.1 billion.    In what could be a harbinger of the first quarter results for other container carriers as well, Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) transported 1.37 million TEUs in the first quarter of 2016, a 4.2 percent increase compared to the first quarter of 2015.
   However, total revenues fell 17.1 percent year-over-year during the quarter to $1.1 billion.
   In addition, average revenue per TEU declined 20.4 percent compared to the first quarter of last year.
   The parent company of Hong Kong-based OOCL, Orient Overseas (International) Limited (OOIL), provides unaudited operational updates each quarter that contain only revenues and container volumes for each of the carrier’s major trade lanes. It does not contain any information about profits, but it is an early peek into how the container industry is performing. Other companies, including OOIL, will provide full-blown quarterly financial reports over the next month or so.
   OOCL said it moved 327,657 TEUs on the transpacific in the first quarter, 12.4 percent more than in the first quarter of 2015, but revenues in the same time period fell 12.5 percent to $401 million.
   On the Asia-Europe trade lane, the carrier moved 213,737 TEUs, 11.1 percent fewer than in the first quarter of 2015, and revenue was down a whopping 36.3 percent to $176 million.
   In the transatlantic, OOCL moved 96,943 TEUs, 10.8 percent more than in the first quarter of 2015, but revenue was down 2.6 percent to $133 million.
   On its intra-Asia and Australasia services, OOCL said it carried 735,835 TEUs, 5.3 percent more than in the first quarter of 2015,  but revenues totaled $404 million, down 14.4 percent.