In a quarterly operational update OOCL reported a volume of 419,386 teu in Q3 on the Transpacific a 14.4% drop on 489,935 teu on the same period a year earlier. For the Asia – Europe trade the Hong Kong-headquartered container line reported a Q3 2022 volume of 384,919 teu, down 7.3% on 415,180 teu in the same period a year earlier.
The volume figures reflect a slowdown in volumes on the main east – west trade routes. “Total liftings and loadable capacity decreased by 3.4% and 1.8% respectively. The overall load factor was 1.4% lower than the same period in 2021,” OOCL said.
However, revenue growth remained strong reflecting high freight rates locked-in on long term contracts.Total revenues for Q3 2022 were $5.04bn up 16.9% from $4.13bn in Q3 last year. With decreased total liftings in the third quarter of this year the average revenue per teu increased by a higher percentage than total revenues for the quarter. “Overall average revenue per teu increased by 21.1% compared to the third quarter of last year,” OOCL said.
The container shipping sector has witnessed sharp decline in spot rates over the last month and half with some trades seeing as much as a 50% drop. On Friday the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) dropped below the 2,000 point threshold to 1922.5, having lost a further 149.09 points last week. The SCFI is now sits at well below half its record level of 5,051 points in January this year.
As spot rates plunge shippers are pushing for contract rate renegotiations and these are starting to see an impact on contract rates.
A scenario of a short, sharp, hard landing is seen for the container shipping sector by analysts Maritime Strategies International (MSI) as discussed in the latest episode the Seatrade Maritime Podcast.
The podcast covers the tanker, container and dry bulk sectors and the section on container shipping starts from 06:44. Listen now in the player above or the app of your choice
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