Hapag-Lloyd is reducing its finance costs through the early redemption of bonds.
The German container line has spent €150m ($178m) on acquiring its 5.125% senior notes maturing in 2024. It is paying a premium of 2.6%.
The €450m debt was sold in July 2017.
"With the early and partial bond redemption, we are continuing our prudent financial policy," said chief financial officer Mark Frese.
"We are further reducing debt, optimising our capital structure and reducing our cost of debt."
Plenty of cash to spend
Frese added that this is in line with the company's strategic agenda.
The company is awash with cash after posting net profit of $605m in the first nine months of 2020.
This was up $272m compared with the same period of 2019.
Earnings increased as volumes recovered in the third quarter amid stable freight rates and lower bunker prices, the company said.
Volumes fell to 8.6m teu, compared with 9m in the previous period, but freight rates were 2% higher on average at $1,097 per teu.
The company is now planning to massively hike freight rates between Asia and Europe in response to a shortage of equipment and surging demand.
Hapag-Lloyd wants to boost rates by up to $1,000 per teu from 1 December on a trade where bottlenecks are prompting spikes not seen for several years.
Rates will initially rise by more than $400 to $1,445 per teu on 15 November and then to as high as $2,445 per teu on 1 December.
