Orient Overseas Container Line Ltd. (OOCL) has announced a profit attributable to equity holders of $1.13 billion for the six-month period ended 30 June 2023, compared to a profit of $5.66 billion for the same period in 2022.
OOCL’s revenue fell to $4.54 billion, while profits before interest and taxes (EBIT) fell to $1.14 billion, both of which were lower than in the first half of 2022.
Moreover, OOCL’s profits before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) decreased to $1.57 billion, while operational cash flow was $548 million.
READ: OOCL suffers 62 per cent revenue drop in Q2 2023
Despite the significant drop in operating profits, OOCL’s TEU liftings in H1 2023 fell only marginally, from 3.63 million TEU in H1 2022 to 3.6 million TEU in H1 2023.
The OOCL Spain is the first one provided by NACKS, while the OOCL Piraeus is the first one delivered by DACKS.
These 24,188 TEU containerships are the biggest vessels presently being supplied to OOCL. The remaining new buildings in the same series will be delivered during the third quarters of 2023 and 2024.
In its financial report, OOCL stated: “The long, steady decline in freight rates, which began around the middle of last year, continued during the first half of 2023.
“The fall from the great heights of 2020-2022 has certainly been spectacular in terms of both absolute dollar value and in terms of percentage, but this is simply a reflection of just how high the freight market had risen.”
The shipping business did, however, declare that rates were typically reverting to, ‘and in some cases exceeding,’ pre-pandemic levels.
This month, OOCL announced a brand new service, Turkey Spain Morocco Express (TSM), in its Intra-European Network.
