OOCL takes delivery of six 20,000 TEU class newbuilding vessels
Orient Overseas (International) Limited and its subsidiaries last week announced a loss attributable to equity holders for 2016 of USD 219.2 million, compared to a profit of USD 283.9 million in 2015. The Board of Directors does not recommend the payment of a final dividend for 2016.
The Chairman of OOIL, Mr C C Tung, said, “This past year has seen some of the most difficult markets in our industry’s history. A combination of steady but low growth in most regions and an overhang of excess supply built up in recent years led to extremely challenging conditions in many trade lanes for most of 2016. As fuel prices rose in the second half of the year, industry performance was badly affected by freight rates that frequently sank below the levels seen in 2009.”
For the full year 2016, OOCL’s liftings were up 9.1 per cent to 6.1 milllion TEU with load factor improving to 85 per cent from 82 per cent, but with a drop in revenue of 9.9 per cent. “This reflects the challenging environment described above, as does the disappointing financial outcome for the year,” Mr. Tung remarked.
In these turbulent times, with industry consolidation occurring at a pace that few, if any, had expected, OOCL continues to build its future on the twin pillars of alliance membership and the efficient operation of the most appropriate vessels for each trade lane. “We are delighted to be forming the Ocean Alliance with COSCO, CMA CGM and Evergreen. The Ocean Alliance will begin operations in April 2017. Working together with these sizeable and like-minded partners will enable us to continue to offer the highest standards in the most cost-effective manner. Moreover, the Ocean Alliance enables OOCL to grow its business in a considered and measured way,” Mr. Tung said.
The 20,000 TEU class vessels enter service in 2017. “Our investment in these vessels demonstrates our commitment to growing our business intelligently, and allows us to gain economies of scale in all our major East West trades. At the same time, we will maintain our focus on continuous cost improvement and further efficiency gains. We continue to invest in IT, as a means of improving not only our internal processes, but also our customer interaction and engagement,” remarked Mr. Tung.
OOIL owns one of the world’s largest international integrated container transport businesses which trades under the name “OOCL”. With more than 320 offices in 70 countries, the Group is one of Hong Kong’s most international businesses. OOIL is listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited.
Financial and Operational Highlights – Full Year 2016
