Hong Kong's OOCL Slides From Profit to Loss in H1 2013
Orient Overseas (International) Limited and its subsidiaries announce a loss attributable to equity holders, after tax and non-controlling interest, of US$15.3 million for the six-month period ended 30th June 2013 compared with a profit of US$116.5 million for the same period in 2012.
Financial & operational highlights
• Operating profit decreased to US$3 million
• OOCL liftings decreased 1.5% to 2.55 million TEUs
• OOCL Freight Revenue per TEU was down 2.2%
• Liquid Assets exceeded US$2.37 billion as at 30th June 2013
The Chairman of OOIL, Mr. C C Tung, said, “The global economy continued to be uncertain during the first half of 2013, and the container transportation industry faced the challenges of weak cargo growth, capacity oversupply and high bunker costs. Market growth across major trades grew only by approximately 2.2% during the first half of 2013. While the markets expect a more robust second half on the demand side, the industry is still expecting a full year newbuilding supply increase of 10% in TEU terms or 270 new ships in 2013. These factors culminated in a disappointing first half for the Group.”
“The operating environment in the first half of 2013 was characterised by the deterioration of freight rates from the last quarter of 2012, especially on the Asia-Europe trade, and the extremely competitive freight rates recorded in both the Trans-Pacific trade and the Intra-Asia trade. A series of rate increases during the second quarter in the market on the East West trades generally could not be sustained”, added Mr. Tung.
OOCL’s total liftings for the first half of 2013 were down 1.5% compared to the corresponding period last year. Average freight revenue per TEU for the period was US$1,088, a decrease of 2.2% over the 2012 first-half average of US$1,112 per TEU. The slow growth in volume and the competitive freight rate environment resulted in reduced contribution for the Group.
During the first half of 2013, the Group took delivery of two 8,888 TEU ‘SX’ Class vessels and five 13,200 TEU ‘Mega’ vessels. Mr. Tung said, “As part of our retonnage program, we ordered ten 13,200 TEU mega newbuildings in 2011 and disposed of six mid 1990s built 5,400 TEU vessels in 2011 and 2012. Out of the ten newbuildings, four are chartered to our alliance partner on a short term basis.
All ten vessels, the remaining five to be delivered in the second half of 2013 and 2014, are expected to improve our cost structure given their size and design. In addition, we will take delivery of our remaining four 8,888 TEU vessels in 2014 and 2015. These vessels, originally contracted for delivery this year, were delayed as part of our joint initiative with the shipyard to improve main engine efficiency. In total, we expect enhanced competitiveness in the trades where all these vessels are deployed.”
