Germany's Hapag-Lloyd has again upgraded its earnings forecast for the full financial year to between €10.1bn to €10.9bn ($11.6bn to 12.6bn).
The latest upgrade by the world's fifth largest liner company compares with an earlier Ebitda forecasts in the region of €7.6bn to €9.3bn.
The upgrade comes on the back of very strong financial results in the first nine months of 2021, according to preliminary earnings figures published today.
That is a result of unabated global demand for container transport and the continuing disruption in global supply chain, the company said.
Ebitda for the first nine months of 2021 is anticipated to be in the range of €6.8bn compared to around €1.8bn in the prior-year period. That compares with full year Ebitda figures of €2.7bn last year and €1.9bn in 2019.
At the same time, Ebit is expected to be roughly €5.8bn compared to approximately €0.9bn in the first nine months of 2020.
Hapag-Lloyd will publish the final figures on 12 November.
The company has attributed record profits made in the first half of the year to the rise in freight rates to high demand, scarce transport capacities and severe infrastructural bottlenecks.
Chief executive Rolf Habben Jansen told journalists last month that strong demand for containerised goods is expected to continue through to at least Chinese New Year next February, mostly driven by demand in the US.
The company is not expecting any normalisation of freight markets until the first quarter of 2022 at the earliest.
Unprecedented returns ahead of COP26
The company revealed the earnings upgrade on a day that its alliance partner Ocean Network Express (ONE) also unveiled fantastic profits.
Earlier today, Japanese-owned ONE unveiled a first-half year profit of more than $6.7bn on the back of a stellar second-quarter performance.
The company attributed the increase to the continuous strong market, with global container trade volumes in July to September increasing by nearly 10% year on year.
Hapag-Lloyd and ONE are both members of THE Alliance, along with Asian carriers Yang Ming Marine and HMM.
ONE is also forecasting a full-year profit after tax of $11.7bn on the back of the continued strong market. Full-year profit in 2020 was $3.48bn.
ONE chief executive Jeremy Nixon remarked on the significance of the unprecedented returns on investment for the liner sector.
"A profitable liner industry that is capable of meeting future investment requirements of decarbonisation is essential for global trade," he said.
"As governments head now to COP26, they should be mindful that if we can decarbonise shipping the, we can decarbonise the whole world at the same time."
