QUARTERLY FIGURES

Hapag-Lloyd made $4.7 billion in profit in the first three months of this year, half a billion more than last year. The shipping company owes this to ‘a much higher average freight price’, which at USD 2774 per TEU was more than 80% above the level of a year ago. Revenue rose by $1 billion to $9 billion. That means that the Germans made a net profit of 52 cents for every dollar of turnover.

CEO Rolf Habben Jansen sees ‘the first signs that the market has passed its peak’, but nevertheless expects ‘a strong second quarter’. At the end of last month, the company increased its profit forecast for the full year by about two billion to around $13.5 billion before interest and tax (EBIT).

The transported volume remained the same at three million TEU. Net profit of more than $51 million per day could have been even higher if the bunker price had not skyrocketed. Hapag had to settle an average of $613 per tonne in the first quarter, almost 60% more than last year’s $384.

Habben Jansen assumes that delays and congestion in container shipping will decrease in the second half of the year. “For our customers worldwide, we will do everything we can to normalize this difficult market environment as quickly as possible,” said the Dutch Hapag boss.