Hapag-Lloyd’s performance worsened due to the situation in the Red Sea – Kommersant

One of the world’s largest maritime shipping companies, the German Hapag-Lloyd, has published quarterly and annual results, which turned out to be worse than expected due to a decrease in freight volumes, as well as problems with the passage of ships in the Red Sea in the last months of 2023. At the end of the quarter, Hapag-Lloyd suffered a loss of €200 million, while a year earlier for the same period the company made a profit of €3.3 billion.

Quarterly revenue fell by almost half, to €3.8 billion. The results were affected by the situation in the Red Sea, where the Yemeni Houthis are shelling, including passing merchant ships, due to which a significant part of cargo transportation was redirected bypassing Africa, which led to increased costs for carriers. By data UN, during two months of Houthi shelling of ships, the volume of cargo traffic through the Suez Canal decreased by 45%.

At the end of the year, revenue fell by almost half, to €17.9 billion, EBITDA decreased from €19.4 billion to €4.5 billion, EBIT – from €17.5 billion to €2.5 billion. Transportation volume increased by 0.5%, up to 11.9 million TEU. Revenue and profit fell, Hapag-Lloyd said, mainly due to lower average vessel charter costs following the pandemic. If in 2022 this figure was $2,863 per TEU, then in 2023 it was only $1,500.

The company’s shares in Europe fall in price by almost 7% after the publication of financial statements. Over the past six months they have lost 30.5% of their value.

Read more about how the situation in the Red Sea affects business in the Kommersant article. “Drones aimed at oil”.

Alena Miklashevskaya