According to Alphaliner’s latest report, in the fourth quarter of 2023, the nine major container carriers’ average operating margins (EBIT) fell below zero for the first time since 2018, plunging to -3%. It points out that six out of nine carriers reported losses in this period.
Evergreen closed the last three months with a net operating margin of 7%, followed by HMM, reporting an EBIT of $9 billion and a positive margin of 0.7%. Alphaliner believes Cosco performed well too, although the carrier will not publish its full figures for another ten days at the earliest.
Annually, the average operating margin of carriers remained positive, at around +4%. For the biggest companies, margins are still higher than in 2019.
Translation by Giles Foster
