PRELIMINARY ANNUAL FIGURES 2022

Hapag Lloyd almost doubled its pre-tax result (EBIT) last year (+86%) to 17.5 billion euros on a turnover of 34.5 billion euros (2021: 22.3 billion). This is evident from the provisional figures of the German container shipping company for the 2022 financial year. Last year’s extreme profit jump was also entirely due to the high container rates in the first nine months of the fiscal year. For example, the average price per teu last year at the German shipping company was at a record level of 2,863 dollars (2,625.8 euros). The transported volume, on the other hand, fell slightly (-100,000 TEU) to 11.8 million TEU.

Profit Forecast

The operating result (EBITDA) of the shipowner from Hamburg also showed a strong increase last year of almost 80% to 19.4 billion euros (2021: 10.9 billion euros). Hapag Lloyd does not want to issue a profit forecast for the current financial year on the basis of the provisional financial year. The shipping company is keeping its powder dry until the publication of the final annual figures in early March of this year.

Earnings for this year are expected to be less rosy than last year. Since the fourth quarter of last year, there has been a sharp fall in prices in global container shipping. This was already visible in the figures for the last three months of 2022 at Hapag Lloyd. The average price per TEU was then 2,420 euros per TEU, more than 200 euros below the annual average of the shipping company. Since then, due to weak market demand, rates have only fallen further.