Hapag-Lloyd CEO expects shipping strength to continue

HAMBURG : Hapag-Lloyd’s CEO said on Thursday he expects continued strength in container shipping volumes, which are driven by global demand for transporting goods and seen as a proxy for trade and a health barometer for the world economy.

The volume of twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) containers moved by its 292 ships rose to 9.3 million metric tons in the nine months from January to September, up 5% from 8.9 million in the same period a year ago, the German company said.

“I don’t see much of a change there in the fourth quarter,” Hapag-Lloyd CEO Habben Jansen told Reuters after presenting nine-month earnings for the world’s fifth largest containershipping group.

Global container volumes have risen by 6.3% year-to-date, marking the highest growth rate since 2021, Hapag-Lloyd said in presentation slides for an analyst call on its results.

However, increasing costs, as commercial shipping diverts around Africa to avoid disruption in the Suez Canal amid attacks by Houthi militants, contributed to a 47% fall in Hapag-Lloyd’s net profit for the period, outstripping freight rate rises.

Hapag-Lloyd achieved average freight rates over the nine months of $1,467/TEU, which was 9% down year-on-year. 

“For the time being, there is no end in sight,” Habben Jansen said of the Suez crisis.

That has left prospects for Hapag-Lloyd’s full-year earnings near 2023 levels, although forecasts were hiked last month.

Commenting on Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential election win, Habben Jansen said that positive macroeconomic impulses could be countered by the damaging effects of tariffs.

President-elect Trump made import tariffs a key pillar of his campaign to get back into the White House.