Market Pulse Week 48: Zim reported net profits of $1.13 Bn and EBIT of $1.24 Bn for the 3rd quarter of 2024, concluding the reporting season for the publicly listed carriers. Zim’s EBIT margin of 44.7% puts it in 4th place behind EMC, HMM and Yang Ming but Zim delivered the highest annualized RoE of 115% in Q3 2024 - twice that of the second-best performer EMC and more than 4 times more than the industry average ROE of 25%. Market Pulse Week 47: Asian carriers have outperformed their European p
Matson’s 1Q 2024 earnings dropped sequentially on higher-than-average volume declines as China-US volume dropped 17% QoQ and 4% YoY due to a reduction in the number of voyages as well as lower vessel utilization. Although Matson continues to enjoy premium rates on its express transpacific services, its competitive edge has been eroded as port congestion on the US West Coast has been largely absent since 2023.
Matson has changed the name of its China-Long Beach Express Plus (CLX+) service to the Matson Asia Express (MAX) from 18 February 2024. A 6th ship will be added to the service with a new call at Dutch Harbor added from 10 March 2024. The revised MAX rotation will call at Ningbo, Shanghai, Long Beach, Dutch Harbor, Ningbo using 6 ships of 2.800-4,250 teu. The service will retain an 11 day transit time from Shanghai to Long Beach.
Matson reported full year results on 20 Feb, with further details to the headline earnings already provided in Jan. Matson was able to buck the trend of negative operating profits reported by its larger rivals, with liner operating earnings of $66m in the 4th quarter of 2023, while group level net profits reached $62m. Matson’s container liftings dropped 5% YoY in the 4th quarter, and although overall utilisation levels continued to drop in 1Q 2024, it has outperformed last year’s trend, in lin
Being the first liner to report 3Q earnings, Matson's 3Q earnings (out on 23 Oct) showed sequential improvement from the 2Q results: container shipping earnings were up 37-43% QoQ on 4% higher container volume, suggesting over 30% QoQ increase in earnings coming from rise in average freight rates. Most of Matson's operation are done on short term contracts or spot freight rates. Matson maintains two services in its China-USWC trade since 4Q of 2022. It has blanked 3 sailings in 1Q 2023 and 2 s
Matson provided preliminary 23Q2 results after Thursday close. Matson's ocean transportation activities will be between $78-83mn, which is nearly 3 times of the 23Q1 results but still down 80% YoY. The YoY drop is expected by the market but the sequential rebound in earnings may have come as a positive surprise to the analysts in the capital market. Matson 's operation is highly concentrated on US domestic routes in the Pacific Ocean and FE-WCNA while CCFI suggested China-WCNA freight rates ha
Matson has added a new expedited service connecting Haiphong in North Vietnam to the US West Coast by transhipment in Shanghai using the Jin Jiang Shipping operated China Haiphong 3 (CHH3) feeder service. The CHH3 service was launched on 8 March 2023 and calls at Haiphong, Shanghai, Qingdao, Shanghai, Nansha, Haiphong using the 1,098 teu MILD JAZZ and 1,096 teu A GORYU. Matson's cargo connects at Shanghai to the CLX and CLX+ service to provide 17-day and 18-day transit times to Long Beach in t
Matson provided earning alert for 1Q 2023 after US market close yesterday (19 Apr). Net profit at $29.3m to $33.8m, suggesting 60% QoQ and 91% YoY drop, which should be expected by the capital market. The QoQ growth in volume particularly for the China route was a surprise given the China service capacity during 4Q 2022 was much larger than 1Q 2023. Matson is earning premium freight rates relative to the going spot rates and it has exposure to the relatively more stable cabotage businesses, whic
Matson has just reported preliminary earnings before US market open on 19 Jan, as the first container liner to report 4Q 2022 bottom line results. Preliminary net earnings in between $69.9mn and $74.8mn, down 72% QoQ and 81% YoY. In EPS, it would be about $1.88 to $2.01, much lower than the capital market consensus of $3.42 (source: Refinitive IBES). To be fair, this set of results are better than our expectation as we expect Matson could be close to loss making since, in our estimates, probably
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