ZIM Integrated Shipping Services (ZIM) has broken its quarterly net profit record after making $144.4 million in Q3, a year-on-year (YoY) increase of 2,818.4%.
The results mean ZIM is the latest container shipping line to enjoy a financial boost during the COVID-19 pandemic. Carriers for the most part have benefitted due to increased freight rates and low fuel costs.
ZIM said it “continued to expand its global network, attending to customers new products’ demand, improved its commercial and service performance levels”.
It said this resulted in “outstanding financial and operational performance during the third quarter of 2020.”
Eli Glickman, ZIM President & CEO, said: “I’m proud to report these exceptional results delivered by ZIM, compared to the same period in 2019 and historically.
“ZIM’s outstanding results in the third quarter represent a new all-time record. This remarkable and exceptional achievement stems from our long-term strategy and vision and reaffirms it. I expect Q4 results to be at least as high as Q3 results.”
Despite its success, ZIM said it was still “facing the challenges of the pandemic” and warned that market volatility remains high.
“Nevertheless, our agile response to market developments enabled us to perform better than ever in the current ‘new reality’ and deliver these excellent results,” it said.
“Following the successful launch of new specialized services for the fast-growing e-commerce sector, we further expanded our reach and our offer to customers,” Glickman continued.
“During the quarter we also announced several new initiatives, aimed at harnessing our technological and innovative expertise to shipping-related fields.
“I am proud and pleased of our Q3 results and will continue to pursue our goal of sustained profitability and growth, while maintaining our high level of customer service. As previously indicated, we expect our fourth quarter results to keep up with this excellent trend”.