Hapag-Lloyd has recorded a sharp profit loss to $791 million in the first six months of the year, down from $3.1 billion or 75 per cent from the same period last year.
The German-based liner ended the first half of 2024 with a Group EBITDA of $2 billion. The Group’s EBIT dropped to $900 million.
Given the substantially changing market conditions following the conclusion of the COVID-19 pandemic, these results are much lower than the previous year’s level, although the company noted that they remain higher than early projections due to increased demand and rising spot rates in the second quarter of 2024.
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Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd AG, said: “Even though we were unable to match the exceptionally good results of the prior year, we delivered a very good first half of 2024 thanks to strong demand and better spot rates.
“We have added several new ships and containers to our fleet. This has helped us to meet the additional capacity requirements resulting from the security situation in the Red Sea and the rerouting of ships around the Cape of Good Hope, thereby keeping supply chains intact.
“At the same time, we have made more progress in our efforts to decarbonise our fleet as well as in building up our terminal business under the Hanseatic Global Terminals brand. In the second half of the year, we will increasingly focus on continued growth and the high quality of our services.”
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Given that demand and freight rates have lately surpassed forecasts, the Executive Board increased its prediction for the current fiscal year on 9 July.
The forecasted Group EBITDA is expected to range between $3.5 billion and $4.6 billion, while the Group EBIT is projected to be between $1.3 billion and $2.4 billion.
Hapag-Lloyd noted that due to the highly volatile evolution of freight prices and significant geopolitical problems, their prediction remains highly uncertain.
