Hapag-Lloyd increases operating result and volume in 2013 financial year

Hapag-Lloyd improved its result and transport volume in the previous financial year despite persistently tough competition. EBITDA increased year-on-year by EUR 54.6 million to EUR 389.1 million.

The operating result also saw a significant improvement, climbing by EUR 41.0 million to EUR 67.2 million, meaning that Hapag-Lloyd performed well in comparison to its competitors. Thanks to its global liner network with almost 100 services, Hapag-Lloyd was able to take full advantage of growth opportunities in a difficult market. Transport volume rose by a total of 4.6% to approx. 5.5 million TEU across all trades in 2013.

"Both factors, the improvement in results and the higher transport volume, are clear evidence of the strength of Hapag-Lloyd in the global market,?says Michael Behrendt, Chairman of the Executive Board of Hapag-Lloyd. However, the average freight rate continued to disappoint, remaining USD 99 per TEU below the previous year's level at USD 1,482 per TEU. Revenue declined to EUR 6.57 billion (previous year: EUR 6.84 billion), which was, however, due largely to a weaker US dollar, currently the main currency in the shipping sector. The group posted a net result of EUR -97.4 million after EUR -128.3 million in the previous year.

"Although Hapag-Lloyd continued to perform well compared to other industry players thanks to the positive operating result, this result nevertheless falls well short of our expectations for 2013 and is ultimately disappointing,"stated Michael Behrendt. "However, as one of many market players, we are unable to avoid the general trend in rates, which was again characterized by irrationality in the previous year."As a result, it was no longer possible to push through sustainable rate increases in the market from the second quarter, despite good ship utilization at times. The important peak season in the third quarter failed to occur again as in the previous year. < Korea Shipping Gazette >