Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd saw group profit drop by 44%, or $1.59bn, in the first nine months of the year due to lower average freight rates.
But stronger demand and higher freight rates in the third quarter led to a significant increase in earnings compared with earlier in the year.
Group profit dropped to $1.83bn over the period, down from $3.42bn in the same period last year.
“In view of lower freight rates in the first half of the year 2024 and increased transport expenses due to the rerouting of ships around the Cape of Good Hope, these results are below the prior-year level, as expected,” the company said in a statement.
“However, stronger demand and higher freight rates in the third quarter led to a significant increase in earnings, compared to the previous quarters of 2024.”
The Hamburg-based carrier logged group Ebitda of $3.6bn and Ebit of $1.9bn over the period.
Transport volumes for its liner operations increased by 5% year over year, reaching 9.3m teu.
Strong demand
Chief executive Rolf Habben Jansen said: “The first nine months of 2024 were marked by unexpectedly strong demand.”
“Despite the tense security situation in the Red Sea and the associated rerouting of ships, we were able to further increase our transport volume compared to the previous year and can look back on a good result overall.”
Revenues from its shipping division slipped by 2% to $15bn in the nine months.
That was mainly due to a lower average freight rate of $1,467 per teu compared with $1,604 in the same period last year.
Ebitda and ebit for the shipping segment both dropped by $1bn to $3.5bn and $1.8bn, respectively.
The fledgling terminals and infrastructure segment, which Hapag-Lloyd established in the second half of 2023, recorded a significant increase in sales and earnings with Ebitda of $114m and Ebit of $56m.
As announced on 24 October, the world’s fifth-largest line expects group Ebitda for the full financial year to be in the range of $4.6bn to $5bn, up from previous estimates of between $3.5bn and $4.6bn.
Group Ebit is put at $2.4bn to $2.8bn, up from the previous forecast of $1.3bn to $2.4bn.
Newbuilds
The results follow the announcement on 6 November that Hapag-Lloyd has inked contracts worth $4bn with two Chinese shipyards for 24 neo-panamax container ships.
A dozen ships of 16,800 teu will be built by Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, while 12 ships of 9,200 teu have been ordered at New Times Shipbuilding.
Delivery of the new vessels will be between 2027 and 2029.
“We have commissioned an extensive newbuild program for 24 ships, with which we will further modernise and decarbonise our fleet and thereby secure our long-term competitiveness,” Habben Jansen said.
“In addition, we have made good progress in building up our terminal business under the Hanseatic Global Terminals brand. Looking ahead, we will continue to vigorously implement our Strategy 2030 while focusing on our growth and quality targets,” he said.
