COSCO provided full 1Q results after market on Friday (28 April) in addition to the EBIT, Net Profit figures already provided in an alert on 4 April. In the new disclosure, operating expenses in A-share accounting fell by 41% YoY while the volume fell by only 12% YoY. In our estimate, COSCO slot costs (annualised opex/capacity) fell 47% YoY in 1Q23. We will compare COSCO’s OPEX with the industry peers when more peers’ figures are available.
COSCO reported after Hong Kong market close last Thursday (30 Mar). COSCO’s liner EBIT dropped only 32% YoY, which is much better most of the liner peers except for Maersk and Hapag Lloyd which have more favorable mix e.g. 2022-2023 contracts and exposure to Trans-Atlantic trade. Part of the reason that COSCO outperform probably was due to the large provision made during 4Q 2021, which raised COSCO’s non-cash slot costs and hence the payables as reflected in the work capital balance.
CMA CGM and OOCL/COSCO are jointly launching a new Bangladesh India Gulf Express (BIGEX) service that connects Chittagong, Colombo, Mangalore, Nhava Sheva, Mundra, Jebel Ali, Abu Dhabi, Chittagong. The service is scheduled to start from 5 April 2023 and will turn in 28 days with 4 ships of 1,700 teu, of which 3 are from CMA CGM and 1 ship from OOCL.
COSCO and OOCL have launched a new Southeast Asia-US East Coast service via Mundra in India. The service is marketed by COSCO as the Asia-US East Coast Express Service South (AWES) and by OOCL as the India-Southeast Asia East Coast (ISE). The AWES/ISE calls at Singapore, Laem Chabang, Cai Mep, Mundra, Suez Canal, New York, Norfolk, Boston, Suez Canal, Singapore using 10 ships of 3,500-4,250 teu starting from 6 January 2023 at Cai Mep with the 3,534 teu GOTTFRIED SCHULTE.
Container liners Q4 earnings report will likely be a turning point of this earning cycle, underlined by the 45% QoQ drop in average CCFI index. Listed Taiwanese liners have released their revenue report in the second week of January. The up coming liner revenue or earning reports IF they follow last year's release schedule would be as follows (last year release date): 1. Maersk preliminary results (14 Jan); 2. Matson profit alert (19 Jan); 3. OOCL operating updates (24 Jan); 4. COSCO prof
CMA CGM has joined COSCO, OOCL and ONE on the East Mediterranean America (EMA) service, replacing Yang Ming as the 4th partner on the Med-USEC service. CMA CGM sells the service as the Turkey Express (TUX), with its participation commencing from 25 November 2022 with the introduction of the 4,360 teu CMA CGM LAPIS to the service. It will join 5 other ships of 4,200-5,00 teu, of which 2 are operated by COSCO and ONE, and 1 by OOCL. The service currently calls at Iskenderun, Aliaga, Ambarli, Pir
COSCO will withdraw its CENX "Prince Port Express Line" transpacific service that connects Qingdao, Shanghai, Prince Rupert, Qingdao. The last sailing was made by the 4,250 teu XIN YING KOU that departed from Qingdao on 12 November 2022. The CENX was first launched on 26 October 2021 by COSCO using 5 ships of 4,200-5,000 teu. In April 2022, OCEAN Alliance partners OOCL and CMA CGM began to participate on the service, branding it as the Pacific China North 2 (PCN2) and Great Lakes Express (GLX)
COSCO will introduce the SYM2 (Singapore Yangon Malaysia 2) service from 14 December 2022 with the 692 teu RICH SEAWAY that will call Port Klang, Yangon, Port Klang on a weekly basis.
The main carriers’ average EBIT margins fell by 3.4% from the 2Q peak of 54.3% to 50.9%. However, the gap between individual carriers are widening, with some notable drops at Wan Hai (down 13.0%), OOCL (down 8.3%), HMM (down 6.8%) and Yang Ming (down 6.1%). Carriers with a larger share on the Asia-US West Coast have suffered the largest margin erosion, with a sharper drop expected in 4Q 2022 as the rate malaise has spread to other tradelanes.
COSCO's intra-European feeder arm, Diamond Line, has revised its Turkey Black Sea Express 1 (TBX1) serrvice with a new call at Batumi in Georgia while the previous call at Poti is dropped. The revised TBX1 connects Piraeus, Ambarli, Batumi, Constantza, Varna, Piraeus, starting from 19 October 2022 with the 1,296 teu AS FATIMA that will be operated together with the 1,267 teu CONTSHIP JET on a 14 day rotation. The service made its maiden call at Batumi International Container Terminal (BICT) op