OOCL posts bumper 2024 results thanks to late surge
The Hong Kong-based container line recorded $9.8bn in revenue in 2024
Healthy transpacific and Asia-Europe rates mean OOCL registered a 30% growth in revenue despite a modest increase in liftings
HONG Kong-based carrier Orient Overseas Container Line secured a 30.2% increase in revenue for the 2024 financial year, earning more than $9.8bn.
This surge in revenue was delivered despite a modest 3.5% increase in liftings that saw volumes rise from 7.59m teu in 2024 vs 7.34m teu in 2023.
OOCL’s transpacific segment registered a 53.5% growth in revenue in 2024, and its Asia-Europe segment was not far behind, with 2024’s $2.3m a 44% increase on 2023’s $1.6m.
Those results were buoyed by a fourth-quarter surge, with the transpacific and Asia-Europe segments delivering 61.7% and 75.4%, respectively. The Asia-Europe revenue growth is even more striking when the 10.9% annual decline in liftings is taken into account too.
In total, the fourth quarter of 2024 delivered $2.5bn worth of revenue, 55% more than the $1.6bn posted in 4Q23.
The Cosco-owned line’s bumper year can largely be attributed to healthy container rates in the latter half of 2024, particularly on the Asia-Europe and transpacific routes.
Red Sea reroutings have kept Asia-Europe rates high, while the looming threat of tariffs brought in by the incoming Trump administration and the frontloading as a result saw Asia-US West Coast rates rebound in the fourth quarter of the year.
Despite signs of softening on the Asia-US west coast route, as seen in the Shanghai Containerised Freight Index at the very end of 2024, rates were still high historically, Jeffries analyst Omar Notka told Lloyd’s List, and well above breakeven level.