OOCL proceeds to order many mega-vessels despite the pandemic challenges

The carrier COSCO-owned company said in its half-year result announcement that it remained confident and described its large order as a "tremendous display of its enduring confidence in container shipping."

Meanwhile, Orient Overseas (International), OOCL's parent company, reported lower container volumes, lower profits but higher sales, in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2019.

"We saw extremely radical changes to many growth forecasts for 2020 cargo volumes, after the impact of the pandemic on container shipping started to materialise" the company said. "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 Hong Kong-based carrier has prioritized cost management in 2020 to manage the difficult, predictable conditions caused by the 2016 and 2019 demand crises. This response is one of the factors that allows us to combat pandemic headwinds, and to produce these solid results", emphasizes OOCL.

The carrier mentioned that increased demand for some industries has been recorded since May and it has provided additional capacity if needed. However, OOCL believes that this demand recovery is not yet guaranteed.

Furthermore, the shipping line noted that it remains cautious about the long-term and unpredictable effects of the pandemic, which could continue to cause volatility in the rest of the year.

"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” added OOCL.

Phaata (Theo Container-News)