Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation (Yang Ming) reveals its 2019 annual financial report today (3/31). The consolidated revenues totaled NTD 149.18 billion (USD 4.82 billion). The company’s net loss, after tax, was NTD 4.31 billion (USD 139.39 million), EPS NTD -1.66. Volumes in 2019 increased to 5.4 million TEUs, up 3.88% year on year. Yang Ming’s revenues rose 5.18% compared with NTD 141.83 billion (USD 4.59 billion) from the previous year. Without additional capacity increase in 2019, both Yang Ming’s operating volumes and revenues were increased and its unit cost was further reduced. However, due to the relatively high proportion of its chartered vessels and leased containers in overall cost structure, the adoption of IFRS 16 in 2019 resulted in a negative impact, which is estimated at NTD 0.9 billion (USD 29.11 million). In addition, the obligation to record the effect of Yang Ming’s strategic decision of not exercising options with respect to formerly chartered vessels in the third quarter of 2019 also led to an increase in its net loss by NTD 1.39 billion (USD 44.95 million). These unfavorable factors account for 53.57% of Yang Ming’s 2019 net loss. Otherwise, the company’s strategy implementation would have shown a greater improvement and reduced its loss by 69.64% compared with the previous year.

Looking ahead to 2020, in the aspect of Yang Ming’s operational strategies, with the cooperation of THE Alliance including the addition of a new partner and its extension through 2030, Yang Ming can upgrade its services through the most suitable vessel deployment, rationalized port rotations, improved transit times to facilitate the optimization of its service network. Moving forward, the company will continue to implement business strategies to increase cargo marginal contribution, deploying intra-regional utilization on long-haul services to enhance slot utilization, and adjust cargo structure in response to market change to generate more revenue. Regarding Yang Ming’s cost structure improvement, it is expected that its existing high-cost long-term chartered vessels will be continually redelivered this year and several of its older vessels will be gradually retired as well. The company will continue to deploy newly built 11,000 TEU class vessels and 2,800 TEU class vessels flexible for short-sea routes to its fleet, which will help to optimize its operating costs. Meanwhile, Yang Ming will work actively to increase the portion of its self-owned containers and seek to purchase office properties for self-use aimed at easing the pressure from the high leasing ratio. With the above-mentioned operational strategies and cost structure enhancement plan, it is anticipated that Yang Ming’s service network, operating costs and competitiveness will be further enhanced to deliver better service to its global customers.