Zim reported record results for the first quarter of 2022 and raised its guidance for the whole year.
The Israeli container line made net income of $1.7bn, compared with $590m for the first three months of 2021, a year in which it went on to make a 787% rise in after-tax profits that reached $4.65bn.
Zim now estimates an Ebitda range of $7.8bn to $8.2bn for 2022, up from a forecast of $7.1bn to $7.5bn in March, when it reported its 2021 figures.
Adjusted Ebitda for the first quarter was $2.5bn, a year-over-year increase of 209%.
Operating income, or Ebit, was $2.2bn on revenue of $3.7bn, which was up 113% from a year earlier.
Carried volume in the first quarter was 859,000 teu, an increase of 5%.
Zim said its average freight rate for the first three months was up 100% from last year at $3,848 per teu. The figure was $3,630 per teu in the fourth quarter of 2021 and $2,786 for the whole of last year.
Chief executive Eli Glickman said Zim has built on an extraordinary 2021 and “maintained our strong trajectory in the first quarter of 2022”.
Its success was “driven by the proactive strategies we have implemented to capitalise on both the highly attractive market and Zim’s differentiated strategy”.
A focus on identifying profitable market opportunities has led to the launch of 10 new services this year and it has announced “attractive chartering transactions” for 17 newbuildings.
It is securing modern and efficient tonnage suited to Zim’s expanded network of expedited services, Glickman said.
“Importantly, we will maintain flexibility to adjust our fleet size based on market conditions and be positioned at the forefront of carbon intensity reduction among global liners,” he added.
Zim’s adjusted Ebit for 2022 now stands at between $6.3bn and $6.7bn.
The company said it continued to return substantial capital to shareholders, including a first-quarter dividend of $2.85 per share.
