Report: OOCL charters eight large boxships in lead up to OCEAN Alliance launch

In addition, Hong Kong-based Orient Overseas Container Line is scheduled to receive a series of 20,000-TEU ships later this year.    Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) has chartered eight large containerships in the past month and a half leading up to the launch of the new OCEAN Alliance vessel sharing agreement on April 1, according to the latest update from industry analyst Alphaliner, as reported by maritime news outlet Splash 24/7.

   The details of the charter agreements are as follows:
     • Cape Akritas – 11,000 TEUs – Costamare – $18,000 per day
     • Cape Tainaro – 11,000 TEUs – Costamare – $18,000 per day
     • Cape Kortia – 11,000 TEUs – Costamare – $18,000 per day
     • Express Rome (formerly Hanjin Italy) – 10,114 TEUs – Danaos – $13,000 per day
     • Express Athens (formerly Hanjin Greece) – 10,114 TEUs – Danaos – $13,000 per day
     • Seapsan Elbe – 10,000 TEUs – terms undisclosed
     • Lloyd Parsifal – 8,533 TEUs – $8,300 per day
     • Seamax Greenwich – 8,189 TEUs – $8,950 per day

   OOCL is the smallest of the OCEAN Alliance members, the others being CMA CGM of France, China COSCO Shipping and Taiwan’s Evergreen Line. The carrier is also scheduled to receive a series of 20,000-TEU class vessels later this year.
   OOCL’s parent company, Orient Overseas (International) Ltd. (OOIL), earlier this week reported a $219 million loss for the full year in 2016 compared with a profit of $284 million the previous year. OOIL’s revenues fell 10.9 percent year-over-year to $5.3 billion despite OOCL increasing container volumes 8.9 percent to 6.1 million TEUs.
   “This past year has seen some of the most difficult markets in our industry’s history,” OOIL Chairman C.C. Tung said of the results. “A combination of steady but low growth in most regions and an overhang of excess supply built up in recent years led to extremely challenging conditions in many trade lanes for most of 2016. As fuel prices rose in the second half of the year, industry performance was badly affected by freight rates that frequently sank below the levels seen in 2009.
   “Our investment in these vessels demonstrates our commitment to growing our business intelligently, and allows us to gain economies of scale in all our major East West trades,” he said in reference to the abovementioned newbuilds scheduled for delivery in 2017.