US carrier Matson expects elevated demand for its express sailings from China to continue most of the year, as shippers look for reliability in their supply chains, reports London's Loadstar.
Matson CEO Matt Cox declared the company's three transpacific loops continue to sail fully loaded with premium-rate cargo from shippers avoiding the severe delays plaguing major carriers.
Revenue soared 60 per cent last year on the previous year, to US$3.13 billion, taking net income to $927 million, from $193 million the year before.
"Our China service continued to see significant demand for its expedited ocean services as volume for e-commerce, garments, and other goods remained elevated," he said.
Mr Cox also said supply chain congestion "remains the current issue" in the transpacific tradelane and Matson's strategy "continued to be skewed towards the spot market."
"Every customer at some point has production problems, has a late order, has something that happens in their supply chain that causes them to require expedited treatment," said Mr Cox.
Matson's liftings last year increased 17 per cent on 2020, to 928,200 TEU, while China's volumes soared 55 per cent, to 184,800 TEU.
Running three Chinese loops exceeded Matson's hitherto main trade with Hawaii, which increased 8.2 per cent to 157,600 TEU.
"In our domestic ocean tradelanes, we continued to see strong demand, with higher year-on-year volumes compared with the pandemic-reduced volumes," said Mr Cox.
"In Hawaii, we experienced elevated westbound freight demand, as the state's tourism and economy continued to rebound from pandemic lows and the slowdown in tourism at the beginning of the quarter."