European shipper’s claims that the lines are manipulating capacity to drive up rates were given further support to their claims by the first half figures released by OOCL on Friday.
Figures for the first half of this year show that total volumes carried by OOCL’s vessels were down 2.6% year-on-year, but its revenues increased 3.2% according to the latest unaudited data released by the company on 24 July.
The Hong Kong based company, now a subsidiary of COSCO Shipping, saw volumes on the Asia to Europe trades decline by 2.3%, from 691,815TEU in the first half of 2019 to 675,657 in the same period this year. Revenues, however, jumped 8.1% in the trade from US$613.23 million to US$662.91 million in the same period.
A less pronounced percentage increase in revenues was seen in the company’s intra-Asia income with revenues increasing 3.2% to US$3.12 billion, from the previous year’s US$3.02 billion.
First half volumes on the Transpacific decreased 0.3% to 941,316TEU, down from 943,691TEU, with a revenue increase of just 0.1% to US$1.181 billion from 2019 income of US$1.80 billion.
In what can only be seen as an anomaly the smallest of the four regional trades on the Atlantic saw an less edifying increase in volumes, 253,279TEU from 240,294TEU, but the company saw revenues decline 1.9% to US$289.16 million from US$294.86 million in 2019.
Overall the company saw volumes decrease 2.6% to 3,286,477TEU with revenues spiralling by nearly US$100 million to US$3.12 billion during the first six months of 2020 compared to 2019.
Nick Savvides
Managing Editor
