Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) reported a 45.1% year-on-year increase in liner revenues to $3.28 billion in the third quarter of 2026. The improvement was the result of higher average revenue per container as well as growing cargo volumes in all of the four trade regions covered in the company’s operational report.
OOCL carried 2.12 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) for the quarter ended September 30, up 9% compared to the same period in 2025. Average liner revenue per TEU increased by 33.1%, according to an October 9 operational update from its parent company, Orient Overseas (International) Ltd. (OOIL), which is majority-owned by China’s Cosco Shipping Holdings.
Cargo volumes grew faster than the available capacity, which grew 3.6% over the quarter. OOIL also reported an overall load factor increase of 4.2% compared with the third quarter of 2025.
Most revenue growth from Trans-Pacific trade
OOCL’s quarterly revenue grew due to the trans-Pacific market. Trade revenues rose 71.8% to $1.44 billion and container volumes increased 13.1% to 595,139 TEUs. From this trade, the company generated $837.9 million from 526,032 TEUs in the third quarter last year.
Asia-Europe had the highest growth in container volumes. Liftings up 15.4% to 399,162 TEUs and revenue up 45% to $695.8 mln.
Intra-Asia and Australasia remained OOCL’s largest trade region by volume with 981,336 TEUs shipped in the quarter, up 4.6% year-on-year. Revenues from these markets increased 23.7% to $947.6 million.
The trans-Atlantic trade was profitable as well. Container volumes climbed 7.3% to 147,008 TEUs, and revenues grew 11.9% to $201.8 million.
Revenue growth in all four regions outpaced the growth in container volumes, reflecting the reported increase in average revenue per TEU. But OOIL’s operational update did not specify the market conditions or commercial factors that had driven the improvement in revenue per container.
Nine month liner revenue over $8 billion
OOCL also delivered a good performance in the first nine months of 2026. Liner revenue rose 18.9% from a year ago to $7.96 billion, against $6.70 billion in the year-ago period of 2025.
Container volumes rose 6.5% to 6.25 million TEUs and average liner revenue per TEU increased 11.6%.
Available capacity of loadable increased by 4.8% in nine months. Meanwhile, OOIL said its overall load factor increased 1.4%, showing that cargo growth continued to outstrip capacity growth.
The trans-Pacific trade was again the largest regional revenue contributor, rising 27% to $3.16 billion.
Revenue in Asia-Europe was up 19 per cent to $1.70 billion and Intra-Asia and Australasia, up 13.8 per cent to $2.55 billion. Growth in trans-Atlantic trade was more modest, with revenues rising only 2.2% to $556.3 million.
Those strong revenue numbers were not accompanied by earnings or expense figures in the operational update. The figures reported therefore give an overview of OOCL’s operating performance and revenue trends but do not by themselves establish the company’s profitability for the period.
