Shipping major Hapag-Lloyd has more than doubled its earnings for the first nine months of the year from R4.8bn in 2018 to R10.5 billion for the same period this year.
“We have achieved a respectable result after nine months,” said CEO Rolf Habben Jansen. “Despite geopolitical tensions and trade restrictions, we benefited from volumes and better freight rates and also kept a close eye on our costs,” he said.
Over the past nine months transport volumes at the company rose by 1.2%to 9 011 TEUs and the average freight rate climbed by 4.2% to R15 875/TEU. Transport expenses grew by 3.5%due to a slightly higher average bunker consumption price of $425 per tonne.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) surpassed the R24bn mark, with the EBITDA increase of R11.4bn in the first nine months including a positive effect of approximately R5.5bn.
