Hapag-Lloyd Updates Guidance Due to Higher-Than-Anticipated Demand for Liner Shipping

Hapag-Lloyd, a global leader in liner shipping, closed the first half of 2024 with a Group EBITDA of $2 billion, a notable decline from the $3.7 billion achieved during the same period last year.

The company's Group EBIT dropped to $900 million, and profit fell to $800 million, down from $2.7 billion and $3.1 billion, respectively. These reductions reflect the shifting market conditions following the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the results surpassed initial expectations, driven by increased demand and rising spot rates in the second quarter of 2024.

In the Liner Shipping segment, Hapag-Lloyd experienced a 5% rise in transport volumes, reaching 6.1 million TEU. Despite this growth, revenue decreased by 14% to $9.3 billion due to a lower average freight rate. EBITDA in this segment fell to $1.9 billion, with EBIT declining to $800 million.

Meanwhile, the Terminal & Infrastructure segment recorded substantial growth in sales and earnings during the first half of 2024, fueled by equity investments made the previous year. EBITDA surged to $71 million, and EBIT reached $33 million. It's worth noting that year-over-year comparisons are limited, as this segment was only established in the latter half of 2023.

"While we couldn’t replicate the extraordinary results of last year, we delivered a strong performance in the first half of 2024, thanks to robust demand and improved spot rates," said Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd. "We've expanded our fleet with new ships and containers, enabling us to meet the additional capacity needs resulting from the security situation in the Red Sea and the rerouting of vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, ensuring supply chain continuity. Additionally, we've made significant strides in decarbonizing our fleet and expanding our terminal operations under the Hanseatic Global Terminals brand. In the second half of the year, we'll focus on sustained growth and maintaining the high quality of our services."

Given the stronger-than-expected demand and freight rates, Hapag-Lloyd has revised its financial forecast for 2024, now anticipating Group EBITDA to be between $3.5 billion and $4.6 billion, and Group EBIT to range from $1.3 billion to $2.4 billion. However, the company cautions that this outlook remains uncertain due to fluctuating freight rates and geopolitical challenges.

With a fleet of 287 state-of-the-art container ships and a total transport capacity of 2.2 million TEU, Hapag-Lloyd continues to be a dominant force in the global liner shipping industry.

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