A big crisis in the containership market can be avoided given the present newbuilding backlog, Hapag-Lloyd believes.
The boxship orderbook relative to the trading fleet has fallen steadily during the past decade and Hapag-Lloyd is more positive than some peers in its outlook.
Rolf Habben Jansen, chief executive of Hapag-Lloyd, described the present orderbook as very low at 11% of the trading fleet and "very manageable" despite the addition of around 300,000 teu in extra capacity this year.
“If we keep in mind the market is growing at 3% or 4%, an orderbook that covers two and a half years, and a couple of percentage points of scrapping, this is the lower end of where the orderbook should be,” he said during an earnings presentation today.
“Certainly, it should also prevent us from getting into a big crisis again, even if growth will be a little bit slower.”
Hapag booked a profit of €96m ($107m) for the first quarter, a swing from an €34m loss at the same stage in 2018, beating forecasts.
Habben Jansen says the company will push this year to further improve results while reducing debt ahead of IMO 2020.
“We do expect in 2019, 2020 and also likely ‘21, there will be a balance between supply and demand [and it] will narrow further or remain more or less where it is today,” he told investors on a conference call.
