Triton International expects favorable conditions in 2019

World’s largest container lessor says customer demand was supported by solid trade growth and increased reliance by carriers on leased containers.    The world’s largest container leasing company, Triton International, said it had adjusted net income of 99.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2018, a 47.1 percent increase over the $68.3 million earned in the same period in 2017. Leasing revenue was $355.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2018 compared with $313.9 million in the same 2017 period.
   For the full year 2018, Triton earned $363 million compared to $211.5 million in 2017. Leasing revenue rose to $1.35 billion in 2018 compared with $1.16 billion in 2017.
   The company said utilization of its equipment averaged 98.2 percent for the fourth quarter of 2018 and averaged 98.6 percent for the full year 2018.
   Brian Sondey, the chief executive officer of Triton, said, “While the ongoing trade dispute between the United States and China has increased trade and economic uncertainty, our customers and market forecasters generally expect global containerized trade growth to remain solidly positive in 2019. The inventory of available used leasing containers also remains very tight and we expect our shipping line customers to continue to rely heavily on leasing.
   “The first quarter is typically our weakest quarter of the year since it represents the depth of the slow season for dry containers and has the fewest number of billing days. As a result, we expect our adjusted net income will decrease from the fourth quarter of 2018 to the first quarter of 2019. After the first quarter, we expect our adjusted income to increase moderately throughout the year as leasing demand improves seasonally,” Sondey said.