COSCO provided earnings alert after market close on 4 July where COSCO expects its EBIT and profit attributable to shareholders for 1H23 to be Rmb24.5bn and Rmb16.6bn respectively. Since COSCO's EBIT and profit attributable to shareholders for 1Q23 were Rmb10.7bn and Rmb7.1b respectively, this COSCO's earning alert implies 2Q23 earnings to be higher QoQ. The sequential growth in earnings as reported by COSCO is exceptional and could not be used as read-through to the other liners earnings to be
Diamond Line, COSCO's subsidiary, is launching Gdynia Baltic Express (GBX) where two vessels will be deploy to cover Kotka, Helsinki, Gdansk, Gdynia, Bremerhaven, Hamburg, Klaipeda, Kotka on 14 days round trip. 1,425 teu OOCL RAUMA and 1,638 teu BALTIC SHEARWATER has been phased in at Kotka on 12 Jun and 18 June respectively.
Container liftings for main carriers fell 6.8% YoY in 1Q 2023, accelerating from the 6.6% YoY fall in 4Q. All 9 of the main carriers recorded volume reductions, with Zim and Maersk recording the largest drops. The aggregate liftings of the 9 carriers in 1Q 2023 were even lower than the 2Q 2020 level during the first COVID wave. Despite the of the continuous improvement of the vessel turnaround time on the easing of port congestion, liner’s volume yield (liftings per slot) has continued to fall
COSCO and OOCL have launched a new Australia New Zealand Express (ANE) trans-Tasman service that connects Sydney, Auckland, Melbourne, Bell Bay, Sydney using the 1,1o3 teu CONTSHIP YEN from 16 May 2023. The service will operate on a fortnightly basis on a 14 day round voyage. The service marks COSCO's first dedicated service in the Australia-New Zealand range.
COSCO's intra-European subsidiary Diamond Line will extend its current Piraeus-Naples Express (PNX) service into a new butterfly service centred around Piraeus that will include calls at the Ligurian Sea ports of La Speia and Vado in addition to Naples on one leg, and a separate leg connecting Piraeus to the Marmara Sea ports of Izmir, Gemlik and Derince (Safi). The extended PNX service will start from 2 June 2023 with the existing 1,560 teu TAICHUNG with two more ships, the 1,698 teu A. OBELIX
COSCO, PIL and RCL have launched a new jointly operated Straits-Yangon service calling at Singapore, Yangon, Port Klang, Yangon, Singapore from 2 May 2023 that are branded respectively as the SYM1 (Singapore-Yangon-Malaysia 1), YGS (Yangon Service), RSY (RCL Straits Yangon Service). The service turns in 21 days using the 1,367 teu ISEACO WISDOM from COSCO, 1,080 teu KOTA HAPAS from PIL and 928 teu NITHI BHUM from RCL and will provide weekly connections between Singapore and Yangon on the first
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.