CHINA's Cosco Shipping Holdings, parent company of Cosco Shipping and Hong Kong's OOCL, capitalised on strong demand and high rate levels through much of the second half of last year resulting in a significant improvement in profitability in 2020.

Dual-listed in Shanghai and Hong Kong, the mainland state-owned group reported a 13.3 per cent increase in revenue to US$26.2 billion, a 15.5 per cent gain in operating profit to $2.1 billion, and a 47 per cent increase in net profit to $1.5 billion, joining competitors such as Maersk in posting highly profitable 2020 results.

The company attributed the improved performance to higher rates that increased revenue, the deployment of additional capacity, and the securing of container equipment.

Cosco did not provide a breakdown of the results of its carrier subsidiaries, but OOCL in an operational update released in January reported full-year volume of 7.4 million TEU in 2020, an increase of 7.3 per cent year over year, with revenue up 18.9 per cent at $6.2 billion.

About 95 per cent of Cosco Shipping Holdings' activity is in container shipping and terminals, with its business split approximately 20 per cent domestic Chinese shipments and 80 per cent international.

Also cashing in on the profitable 2020 container shipping environment were Japan's top three shipping lines - NYK Line, Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), and "K" Line - which received almost $500 million in dividends from Ocean Network Express (ONE), reports IHS Media.

The payout is the first dividend the three shipping lines have received from ONE since the carrier was launched in 2018 as a merger of the container line operations of the three still-separate companies. The windfall is a significant reversal from the initial losses the three lines had to bear after ONE's disastrous first year, when it sustained a $586 million loss due in part to a troubled launch.

Tokyo- and Singapore-based ONE said in January it expects to record an annual net profit of $2.5 billion for its fiscal year ending March 31, attributing what would be the company's most profitable year ever to soaring spot rates and strong demand on trades out of Asia.