News / Q4 23 financial horror for liners spotlit by OOCL operational update

Photo: © Péter Gudella

A first look at the terrible final quarter of 2023 for container lines came this morning as OOCL released its Q4 operational update.

The Cosco-owned carrier said combined revenues across its four trades – Asia-Europe, transpacific, transatlantic and intra-Asia/Oceania – amounted to $1.6bn, a 49% year-on-year decline, as freight rates continued to collapse in the final months of last year.

For the full year, the decline was even worse, with 2023 revenue down 59.6% on 2022’s $18.7bn, at $7.5bn.

The dramatic decline in revenue came despite a global increase in volumes carried by the Hong Kong-headquartered carrier, indicating just how far the spread between demand and supply has become, as more and more new ships are delivered.

Total OOCL volumes for Q4 were up 7.2% year on year, to 1.87m teu, while for the full year they were up 2.9%, at 7.34m teu.

Unsurprisingly, the transatlantic trade saw the biggest decline in revenue, falling 65% in Q4, accompanied by an 11% decline in volumes. OOCL’s transpacific, Asia-Europe and intra-Asia volumes grew 19.9%, 1.4% and 6.5%, respectively, in the fourth quarter.

All trades saw volumes grow over the full year: the transatlantic saw the highest level of growth, despite a risible Q4, with 12-month volumes up 7.2% on 2022; and intra-Asia remained OOCL’s dominant trade, with total volumes of 3.37m teu, a growth of 1.2% on 2022.

Similarly, all four trades showed massive full-year revenue declines – with Asia-Europe the weakest performer, as rates crashed 67.5% compared with those in 2022. The transpacific saw rates drop 63.2%, the transatlantic by 41% and intra-Asia rates were down 57.2%.

This meant the intra-Asia trade overtook the transpacific as OOCL’s highest earner: year-end transpacific revenues came in at $2.53bn, pipped by intra-Asia’s $2.54bn.