[130318.EN.BIZ] OOIL is Back in The Black With a US$138m Profit For 2017

HONG Kong's Orient Overseas (International) Limited (OOIL) has announced a profit attributable to equity holders for 2017 of US$137.7 million, compared to a loss of US$219.2 million in 2016 as a result of the "synchronised economic recovery" around the world which helped the container shipping industry to recover.

OOIL, parent of Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL), pointed out that OOCL's container transportation and logistics business segment showed a profit of $105.4 million in 2017, compared to a loss of $184.6 million in the previous year.

OOCL's container volume during the year rose 3.6 per cent to 6.29 million TEU compared to 6.08 million TEU in 2016.

The group's revenue surged 15.3 per cent to $6.1 billion in 2017compared to $5.3 billion in the previous year.

The Chairman of OOIL, C C Tung, said: "The economic backdrop for 2017 was more robust than forecasters had expected. Following a decade of low growth, we saw healthier performance in both GDP and trade volumes across most of the world's major economies. This was a welcome change after the industry's low point of 2016."

OOIL said 2017 was a year of tremendous growth for OOCL in both European and US bound trades. For the full year, OOCL's liftings were up 3.6 per cent overall, but 16.3 per cent on Trans-Pacific and 19.7 per cent on Asia-Europe. This growth outpaced the already strong volume growth seen in the market as a whole.

"One of the cornerstone strategies for many years of the OOIL group has been to work in alliance. We are now almost into the second year of the Ocean Alliance with Cosco, CMA CGM and Evergreen. Alliance membership continues to deliver meaningful benefits in terms of network and scale, and very much remains part of delivering our growth strategy," said Mr Tung.

During the year, the Group took delivery of five of a total of six 'Giga' Class 21,413 TEU vessels ordered from the Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard. The last vessel in the series was delivered in January 2018. "No orders for new buildings were placed during the year," the group added.

The chairman said that with the combination of better economic growth and continuing (if moderated) growth in supply, along with higher bunker prices, the industry will experience gradual recovery and "not the boom that some analysts expected when improved economic data first started to appear."

However, Mr Tung expressed optimism for the future: "Against this gradually improving economic background, and in the context of a consolidating industry, the future for OOIL appears to be promising. We are well placed to continue to grow, and look forward to maintaining our track record of being amongst the most consistently highest performers in the industry."

In October 2017 Cosco, OOIL and Shanghai Port Group (SIPG) confirmed Cosco's $6.3 billion acquisition of OOIL. The merger results in the combined entity becoming the world's fourth biggest container carrier, with 400 vessels.

When finalised, Cosco will hold 90.1 per cent of shares while SIPG will hold the remaining 9.9 per cent stake in OOIL.

Source : HKSG.