Hapag-Lloyd nine-month net profit soars over 10-fold on record freight rates By Reuters

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German container shipping line Hapag-Lloyd reported a more than 10-fold surge in nine-month net profit on Friday, citing record freight rates amid scarce transport capacities and rising transport volumes.

The world’s number five operator said net profit climbed to 5.6 billion euros ($6.41 billion) in the January-September period, from 538 million euros a year earlier.

It expects earnings momentum to remain at a high level for the rest of the year while operators and customers across the globe will face more severe infrastructure bottlenecks due to the coronavirus crisis which has disrupted supply chains.

“Despite all the operational challenges, we achieved an extraordinary strong nine-month result,” said Chief Executive Officer Rolf Habben Jansen.

“However, global supply chains are under enormous pressure, which further intensified during the peak season in the third quarter.”

Hapag-Lloyd held on to its recently revised full-year guidance for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) between 10.1 and 10.9 billion euros and earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) between 8.7 and 9.5 billion euros.

Revenues in the first nine months increased by 60% to 15 billion euros, mainly due to a 66% jump in average freight rates to $1,818 per 20-foot equivalent standard container units (TEU).

EBITDA was 6.8 billion euros, up from 1.8 billion euros in the same period in 2020, while EBIT rose to 5.8 billion euros from 858 million euros.

The company said in August it expects to pay a healthy divided for 2021. It will report its final 2021 earnings on March 16.

($1 = 0.8738 euros)