Hapag-Lloyd has said global demand for container transport remains “at a high level”, despite supply chain disruptions continuing to affect services across the industry, and that it expects earnings to remain strong in the second half of the Financial Year 2021.
In a statement, the carrier said it has raised expectations for earnings this year and now predicts it will make between $9.2 billion and $11.2 billion, up from $7.5 billion to $9.5 billion.
Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd, said, “We also benefitted from better freight rates in the second quarter and are looking at a very strong first half-year overall.
“At the same time, since we firmly expect this momentum to carry over into the second half of the year, we have raised our earnings forecast for 2021 as a whole.
“We will continue to work tirelessly to reduce the impact of supply chain bottlenecks for our customers and to deliver a better service quality.”
Ports and terminals across the world have experienced unprecedented congestion since the Summer of 2020 as lockdown measures in some parts of the world, such as China, eased and consumers in major markets began an e-commerce frenzy.
Carriers have consequently enjoyed substantial increases to their profits and earnings, despite the challenges caused in parts of the supply chain, such as inland.
It has raised questions over some regions’ ability to handle sudden increases in traffic, as well as an investigation from the US federal government into alleged breaches of contract from carrier alliances.
