Lower freight rates weighed on Evergreen Marine and Wan Hai Lines, with both Taiwan-based carriers this week reporting sharply reduced operating revenues for 2023. However, while Evergreen remained profitable, Wan Hai plunged into a full-year net loss. 

But in a sign that an improvement in fortunes could be under way, both carriers have seen a rebound in revenues for the first two months of this year on the back of higher freight rates. Evergreen reported a 30% rise in revenue for January and February, to $1.8 billion, while Wan Hai Lines saw an 8% increase to $574 million. 

For 2023, Evergreen said Thursday in a filing to the Taiwan stock exchange that its net profit dropped to $1.1 billion, down from a record $11 billion in 2022. Taiwan’s leading container line, the world’s seventh-largest carrier in terms of capacity according to Alphaliner, said operating revenues dropped 56% to $8.8 billion, against $20 billion a year earlier. 

Evergreen did not comment on the figures, but an analysis of the results shows improved profitability in the second half of 2023 with net income rising by 145% to about $780 million compared with $318 million in the first half. Revenues were approximately equal. 

Full-year net profit was about $100 million higher than analysts’ forecasts, while operating revenues were in line with expectations. 

Wan Hai net loss 

Intra-Asia specialist Wan Hai Lines, in a filing to the Taiwan stock exchange Wednesday, reported a $184 million net loss for last year compared with a record $3 billion net profit in 2022. 

But the carrier, ranked 11th largest in the world by Alphaliner, saw losses ease in the second half after it reported a $140 million net loss in the first half. 

Operating revenues fell 61% to $3.2 billion last year from $8.2 billion in the year prior, although analysts said this partly reflected Wan Hai’s move to refocus more on intra-Asia business rather than long-haul trades using a smaller fleet. 

Analysts said intra-Asia accounted for about half of Wan Hai’s revenues last year against about a quarter in 2022. 

The carrier also slashed its chartered-in fleet to about six vessels last year from about 45 in 2022, which reduced its total fleet by about 30% to 120 ships. The move also increased Wan Hai’s proportion of owned vessels to 95% as it sought to “respond to market changes and manage operational costs” more effectively, the carrier said. 

While capacity increased by about 10% last year to about 476,000 TEUs, this was due to the delivery of five ships, including two 13,000-TEU vessels, that were deployed on Wan Hai’s Americas services. The carrier will also revamp its Asia-US West Coast (AP1) service with Ocean Network Express beginning in May with seven ships, including five 13,000-TEU vessels, deployed by Wan Hai. 

The Evergreen and Wan Hai results come a week after Taiwan’s Yang Ming Marine Transport reported net profits of $153 million for 2023, down from a record $6 billion in 2022.