An increase of 54.2%! Hapag-Lloyd’s third-quarter net profit was $5.2 billion.
In the third quarter, Hapag-Lloyd’s freight volume was flat compared to the same period last year, with an average freight rate of $3,106/TEU, a year-on-year increase of 39%. On November 10, Hapag-Lloyd released its results for the third quarter of 2022. In the third quarter, Hapag-Lloyd achieved revenue of $9.878 billion, a year-on-year increase of 33.6%; net profit of approximately $5.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 54.2%; EBITDA of $5.708 billion, a year-on-year increase of 45.5% %; EBIT of $5.225 billion, a year-on-year increase of 51.4%.
Hapag-Lloyd Chief Financial Officer Mark Frese said: “During the reporting period, the decline in spot freight rates was offset by contract freight rates. Therefore, although spot freight rates are still falling, average freight rates still rose slightly.” The company pointed out that in the first three quarters, the container shipping market faced the problem of tight global supply chains, resulting in longer turnaround times for ships. At the end of the third quarter, the demand for container shipping was weak, and the shortage of shipping capacity eased slightly.
Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen expressed a positive outlook on the container shipping market. He said: “I don’t think the market has bottomed out, it’s been up and down since the first week of October. But Hapag-Lloyd generally signs long-term contracts with customers, and in the third quarter the contract execution is quite good.” However, he also mentioned that when the difference between contract freight and spot freight increases, customers sometimes argue, which is undoubtedly a challenge.
For the market judgment in the future, Hapag-Lloyd believes that the supply of ships will increase by at least 4% in 2023, and the demand for transportation will increase by 2%. Rolf Habben Jansen further stated: “In the next few months, tensions in the global supply chain should normalize.” He added that Hapag-Lloyd will stick to the company’s strategic plan, and at the same time, there will be more investment to achieve business growth and decarbonization of the fleet, focusing on investment including terminals, etc.
