During this current competitive environment, RCL's total liftings for 3Q 2018 fared 4.6% better than that of last quarter's and recorded a 6.9% improvement year-on-year. With the improvement in liftings, freight income was up by 7.7% from 2Q 2018 and was 4.1% higher when compared to its corresponding quarter of the previous year. Total revenue inched up to THB 3,091 million, a 5.2% year-on-year rise, or a 5.7% upswing in comparison with the previous quarter of THB 2,923 million, despite a quarter-to-quarter drop of 26.5% in gain on sale of assets.

In tandem with the increase in volume achieved and the unusually high bunker prices caused by the on-going trade war, uncertainty, and the severe impact of typhoon in China, RCL's total expenses went up by 18% when compared to the same quarter last year. The spike was lesser at 7.3% on a quarter-to-quarter basis. The cost of freight and operations in 3Q 2018 jumped 18.9% higher than the corresponding period of 2017 and hiked up 7.3% compared to its previous quarter. A 51.3% surge in bunker cost for 3Q 2018 vis-à-vis 3Q 2017, was the main contributing factor to the increase in total expenses. On a quarter-to-quarter basis, the bunker cost ascended 11.9%

With escalating bunker cost consequentially impacted RCL's bottom line, it slipped into unfavourable territory posting a net loss of THB 93 million for 3Q 2018 versus a net profit of THB 242 million in 3Q 2017 and recorded a drop of 116.3%, when compared to previous quarter.