Shipping lines’ Covid-induced bonanza may be over, but the Red Sea crisis has boosted a previously sombre outlook for the industry.
This is reflected in financial results from several carriers, which have been filtering through – the latest from German carrier Hapag-Lloyd.
The line concluded the first half of 2024 with a Group Ebitda of $2 billion. The Group Ebit decreased to $9bn and its profit to $0.8bn.
Given the significantly changed market conditions following the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, these results are well below the level of the previous year, but they are also above initial expectations due to higher demand and rising spot rates in the second quarter of the year.
In the liner shipping segment, transport volumes increased by 5% compared to the previous year, to 6.1 million TEUs (H1 2023: 5.8m). Segment revenues fell by 14%, to $9.3bn, in particular due to a lower average freight rate of 1 391 USD/TEU (H1 2023: 1 761 USD/TEU) compared to the same period last year. The Ebitda decreased to $1.9bn. The Ebit fell $0.8bn.
“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,” said CEO Rolf Habben Jansen.
“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.”
Given the fact that demand and freight rates have recently exceeded expectations, the Executive Board has raised its forecast for the current financial year. The Group Ebitda is expected to be in the range of $3bn to 5-4.6bn and the Group Ebit in the range of $1.3bn to 2.4bn.
This may however change in view of the high degree of uncertainty in the market.
