NOL April box volumes jump 34%

Singapore: Neptune Orient Lines April container volumes jumped 34% compared to last year. NOL said it handled 212,000 feu in the period 3 April to 30 April, an increase of 34% over the 157,000 it handled in the same period of 2009. The company said it was mainly due to higher volumes handled on the intra-Asian and transpacific trade lanes. Year to date NOL has carried 43% more boxes than it did in 2009 handling a volume of 913,000 feu. For April average freight rates across all trades the line is involved in were up 15% at $2,669 per feu compared to the same period in a year earlier. The company said higher rates were, “largely due to improved core freight rates in a number of trade lanes, particularly on Asia-Europe, and also higher bunker recovery.” “The impact of annual contracting in the transpacific will reflect in performance from period six of 2010 onwards,” it added.

(Source: Sea Trade Asia on line)