HONG KONG: Orient Overseas (International) Limited and its subsidiaries (the “Group") announced a profit attributable to equity holders of US$102.1 million for the six-month period ended 30th June 2020. 

“We saw extremely radical changes to many growth forecasts for 2020 cargo volume, after the impact of the pandemic on container shipping started to materialise. Faced with dire predictions of dramatically falling demand from our customer base, OOCL reacted by paying careful attention to customer demand and reviewing and calibrating our services accordingly on a timely basis. The container shipping sector has recent experience of significant falls in demand that hurt the industry badly, both in 2009 and 2016, and so OOCL has prioritised cost management during the anticipated tough conditions of 2020.  This adaptability is one of the factors that has allowed OOCL to resist the headwinds of the pandemic, and to produce these solid results.  Since May, demand on some trade appears to have improved somewhat, with OOCL providing additional capacity to support our customers' requirements.  However, this tentative demand recovery is far from secure, and we will continue to monitor the situation closely.

The financial outcome has also been helped by a fall in fuel prices, although it is not known how long this will last, as well as by a low interest rate environment and a reduction in the Group's debt.

Compared to the first half of 2019, OOCL total liner liftings decreased by 2.6%, but revenue per TEU increased by 6.0%, allowing total revenue to increase by 3.2%. Negative market growth occurred on several trades, but in some cases this drop in liftings was outpaced by an improvement in the freight rates.

Looking forward, the pandemic will have long-lasting effects, and the epidemic prevention and control measures adopted in many countries have become part of daily life.  Thanks to the tremendous efforts of all parts of society, as well as economic stimulus packages, many economies have re-emerged from lockdowns and have restarted activity. Against the difficult backdrop, China has managed to expand its GDP 3.2% year on year in the second quarter of 2020, a sign that production activity is steadily improving, which gives us some degree of hope for a more widespread recovery. While the pandemic could continue to bring uncertainties in the rest of the year, tensions in global trade relationships or other factors such as oil prices could also have an impact on our business in the coming months.  In this situation, the only rational response is to remain cautious.

Despite the challenges, we remain confident in our long-term future.  The order we placed in March this year to build five 23K TEU vessels is a tremendous display of our enduring confidence in container shipping.  We are playing a leading role in the digitalisation of our industry and building on very solid foundations in providing integrated container logistics services, which will help us to respond better to the evolution of our customers' requirements in the post-epidemic era. OOIL is among the best-placed groups to handle whatever difficulties may be faced by our industry,” said the company statement.

HONG KONG: Orient Overseas (International) Limited and its subsidiaries (the “Group") announced a profit attributable to equity holders of US$102.1 million for the six-month period ended 30th June 2020. 

“We saw extremely radical changes to many growth forecasts for 2020 cargo volume, after the impact of the pandemic on container shipping started to materialise. Faced with dire predictions of dramatically falling demand from our customer base, OOCL reacted by paying careful attention to customer demand and reviewing and calibrating our services accordingly on a timely basis. The container shipping sector has recent experience of significant falls in demand that hurt the industry badly, both in 2009 and 2016, and so OOCL has prioritised cost management during the anticipated tough conditions of 2020.  This adaptability is one of the factors that has allowed OOCL to resist the headwinds of the pandemic, and to produce these solid results.  Since May, demand on some trade appears to have improved somewhat, with OOCL providing additional capacity to support our customers' requirements.  However, this tentative demand recovery is far from secure, and we will continue to monitor the situation closely.

The financial outcome has also been helped by a fall in fuel prices, although it is not known how long this will last, as well as by a low interest rate environment and a reduction in the Group's debt.

Compared to the first half of 2019, OOCL total liner liftings decreased by 2.6%, but revenue per TEU increased by 6.0%, allowing total revenue to increase by 3.2%. Negative market growth occurred on several trades, but in some cases this drop in liftings was outpaced by an improvement in the freight rates.

Looking forward, the pandemic will have long-lasting effects, and the epidemic prevention and control measures adopted in many countries have become part of daily life.  Thanks to the tremendous efforts of all parts of society, as well as economic stimulus packages, many economies have re-emerged from lockdowns and have restarted activity. Against the difficult backdrop, China has managed to expand its GDP 3.2% year on year in the second quarter of 2020, a sign that production activity is steadily improving, which gives us some degree of hope for a more widespread recovery. While the pandemic could continue to bring uncertainties in the rest of the year, tensions in global trade relationships or other factors such as oil prices could also have an impact on our business in the coming months.  In this situation, the only rational response is to remain cautious.

Despite the challenges, we remain confident in our long-term future.  The order we placed in March this year to build five 23K TEU vessels is a tremendous display of our enduring confidence in container shipping.  We are playing a leading role in the digitalisation of our industry and building on very solid foundations in providing integrated container logistics services, which will help us to respond better to the evolution of our customers' requirements in the post-epidemic era. OOIL is among the best-placed groups to handle whatever difficulties may be faced by our industry,” said the company statement.