OOCL’s deepening relationship with parent COSCO Shipping has not fully protected it from the general downturn container lines faced in 2025 but its just released results are better than some.
Orient Overseas (International) Limited announced its 2025 full year results in Hong Kong late last week, revealing Group Revenue of US$9,722 million compared to $10,702m m in 2024. Group EBIT was US$1,549 million versus $2,635m in 2024 and Group EBITDA was US$2,543 million, versus $3,356m.
2025 Profit Attributable to Equity Holders was US$1,513 million compared to $2,577m in the year prior.
OOIL’s container transport and logistics business (OOCL) reported EBIT of US$1,541 million, representing an EBIT margin of about 15.9%, down from 25% in 2024. Liner liftings grew to 7.9 million TEU from 7.6 million TEU as loadable capacity grew from 9,046,000 TEU to 9,599,000 TEU.
Echoing other carriers OOCL noted that in 2025, the global economy moved unpredictably amid shifting and uncertain policy environments. Tariff measures and trade tensions continued to weigh heavily on the container shipping industry, most notably on the Trans Pacific trade, driving sharp fluctuations in both cargo volumes and freight rates.
"At the same time, policy adjustments and front loading disrupted the usual post Lunar New Year seasonal patterns. Heightened expectations of strong profit margins intensified competition on certain routes, amplifying market volatility and creating significant operational challenges for carriers, shippers, and freight forwarders.
“Entering November, tariffs and port charges imposed under the USTR 301 investigation were suspended. Although uncertainty persisted over whether tariffs would be reinstated, the one-year suspension offered temporary relief to market sentiment. As the traditional year end peak season approached, the container shipping market began to recover gradually,” OOIL said.
“Although global economic growth slowed in 2025, several emerging markets, such as Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, continued to show strong growth momentum. This may have been driven by shifts in trade patterns that boosted local trade, or by domestic economic expansion stimulating local demand. It is also possible that spillover effects from other markets simply require more time to materialise. Regardless of the reason, we have seen carriers seize this opportunity to accelerate the deployment and adjustment of their service networks,” it said.
“Our cooperation with COSCO SHIPPING Lines continues to deepen. In recent years, the synergy of the dual brand strategy has enabled OOCL to make significant progress in cost optimisation and risk diversification, laying a solid foundation for the Group's stable operations. These synergies will continue to play their role in the new year.
“We are accelerating our vertical expansion of the supply chain by offering customised solutions such as international order processing, cargo management, warehousing, and distribution services. These efforts enable us to build an end to end intelligent and digitalised supply chain that delivers high value services for our customers, further fulfilling our Customer Focus commitment.”