SINGAPOREAN shipping line APL, and member of the NOL Group, has painted a revealing picture of the present state of the container shipping market by posting higher volumes, but declining revenues.
For the year up until November 18, 2011, APL carried 2.6 million FEU, an increase of eight per cent compared to the previous year on the back of higher volumes on intra-Asia trade routes.
On the other hand, average revenue per FEU for the period under review amounted to US$2,532, a decrease of 10 per cent year on year.
In the four-week period from October 22 to November 18, the shipping line moved 224,200 FEU, up two per cent compared to the same period a year earlier. But revenue fell 14 per cent to $2,401 per FEU during the period, which the company attributed to lower freight rates on the major trades.
NOL had earlier reported a net loss of $158 million for the first nine months of the year but the weak performance so far in the fourth quarter suggests that net losses could reach $400 million or the full year, said the Paris-based maritime consultancy Alphaliner.
"APL has the largest idle fleet among all carriers, with seven ships without employment as at early December for 34,500 TEU or six per cent of its total fleet," said the Alphaliner weekly newsletter.
"Some of these are however to be reactivated soon as their idling was only triggered by service restructurings. The shipping line decided to charter three additional 8,400 TEU ships in October to replace smaller vessels in its network in a bid to lower operating costs," Alphaliner said.
But APL's latest lifting figures suggest that it is facing difficulties in filling these larger ships while overall network costs have not been reduced, said Alphaliner.
Despite this oversupply, APL is bent on phasing in large newbuildings this month, leading off with its first 10,000-TEU ships, the APL Chongqing and the APL Gwangyang.