According to Alphaliner, Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) operating income jumped to $7.4 billion in 2021 after revenue doubled and prevailing high freight rates offset stable lifts and carrying capacity. The result represented a seven-fold increase over the previous year.
Total group revenue doubled from USD 8.1 billion to USD 16.8 billion despite a marginal increase in OOCL’s cargo capacity (8.73 M teu). Volume changed slightly from 7.6m teu to 7.5m teu in 2020. Regardless, the company told Alphaliner it had posted record levels of revenue, profit, and volume for the year.
Despite the general consensus that market conditions could change later this year, OOCL said that for now, transport conditions remain the same: “At the time of writing, purely in terms of the container shipping market, the situation is still very similar to what we saw. during 2021. Demand still appears resilient, and ongoing congestion and disruptions mean there is considerable pressure on available space and consequently high demand for our services,” reports Alphaliner.
However, OOCL warns that the second half of the year was more difficult to predict. “We are aware of other events that could affect performance in the coming months. We are referring not only to geopolitical events, but also to possible additional recurrences of COVID-19 outbreaks such as the recent outbreak in China that has brought the city of Shanghai into lockdown, plus high inflation, and indeed unexpected events that wars and changes in the lines’ service routes could arise during these uncertain times,” he assured Alphaliner.
OOCL now has 12 x 23,000 teu and 10 x 16,000 teu under construction, which it describes as a clear indication that COSCO intends to be a leading player in the “upper echelons” of the industry. The 23,000 teu units will be delivered between 2023 and 2024, with the smaller vessels coming online between Q4 2024 and Q4 2025, Alphaliner reports.
