JAPAN's biggest carrier, MOL, has posted a fiscal 2011 annual net loss of JPY26 billion (US$316 million), drawn on revenues of JPY1.4 trillion, down seven per cent year on year.

For container shipping, the net loss from April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012 was JPY29.9 billion, drawn on the revenues of JPY544.1 billion.

"A considerable loss was recorded for the containership business, compounded by a strong yen and the high bunker prices," said the company statement accompanying the results.

The carrier also said throughput was weaker than expected and freight rates were low, which reflected not only the "slowdown in cargo volume but also an easing in the supply and demand environment caused by increased capacity from new vessel deliveries".

For individual trade lanes, the volume on dominant east-west run was weak due to European debt crisis. Although intra-Asia remained stable, the north-south trade was weak.

In response, MOL expanded lifting by making effective use of space on all its main services worldwide. The carrier said it improved service quality on the east-west trade. And on the Asia-North America trade, MOL upgraded the Panama/Amazon service (CX1) to independent operations to offer more space and enhance the operation quality.

On the Asia-Europe trade, MOL joined APL, Happing-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine, NYK and OOCL to form the G6 alliance. And on the north-south route's Asia-South America east coast service (CSW), the carrier applied super-slow steaming to introduce additional vessels.

On the intra-Asia route, it opened a HS3 service linking Japan, Hong Kong Jakarta and Straits, and a NCX service connecting India's west coast with China.

"In addition, we established a service linking Singapore with Yangon (SYX) to secure our independent network in Myanmar, where economic growth is expected to occur."