Hapag-Lloyd strong in third quarter of 2024

Hapag-Lloyd has announced a €955m profit for the third quarter 2024, up from €263m in the same period last year and €434 in the second quarter this year.

The company revised its earnings forecast again alongside its results, noting the volatile development of freight rates and persistent geopolitical challenges. Group EBIT is now expected to be between €2.2bn and €2.6bn for the year, compared to the prior forecast of €1.2bn to €2.2bn.

The changing figure underlines recent market volatility; as of March 2024, Hapag-Lloyd forecast a year-end result of between €1bn in the red and €1bn in the black.

The average freight rate in the third quarter of $1,612 per teu improved on Q2’s $1,422 per teu and the year-ago period, with volumes also improving on-quarter and on-year to 3.2m teu.

Despite the better performance in the third quarter, results for the first nine months of 2024 are lower than the first three quarters of 2023. An increase in volumes of 407,000 teu to 9.3m teu was met with a $137 drop in the average freight rate, bringing down revenues in the group’s liner segment by 2% to $15.0bn.

Group revenues of $15.3bn were down by $29m, and a profit of $1.8bn compared to $3.4bn in the first nine months of 2023.

The terminal segment maintained its growth trajectory, although comparisons on-year are of limited value as the unit was founded in the second half of 2023.

Related:Hapag-Lloyd splashes out $4bn on 24 container ships

“The first nine months of 2024 were marked by unexpectedly strong demand,” said said Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd AG.

“Despite the tense security situation in the Red Sea and the associated rerouting of ships, we were able to further increase our transport volume compared to the previous year and can look back on a good result overall.”

Last week, Hapag-Lloyd launched a 24-vessel newbuilding programme for LNG dual-fuel, ammonia-ready for 16,800 and 9,000 teu vessels, “with which we will further modernise and decarbonise our fleet and thereby secure our long-term competitiveness,” said Habben Jansen.