NOL has reported that during the four weeks from February 10 to March 9, its liner segment handled 158,600 FEU, a slight increase of two per cent compared to the same period in 2006 when the Singaporean shipping line handled 156,200 FEU.

However, the average revenue per FEU during the same period fell five per cent over 2006 from US$2,640 to $2,500.

A company statement explained that many liner shipping lanes were affected by factory closures for a week during the Lunar New Year holiday in many Asian countries. In 2006, this period was between January 29 and February 4 compared to between February 18 and 24 in 2007 resulting in a longer period of post Lunar New Year slack this year.

In the first 10 weeks of 2007, the APL liner operation handled 406,100 FEU, an increase of 11 per cent year on year while the company's average revenue per FEU dropped six per cent over 2006 from $2,700 to $2,538.