“Container shipping business can’t go on like this. It is unacceptable that our industry charges freight rates below the variable costs,” said Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd AG, commenting on the presentation of the final figures for 2015 in Hamburg.
Hapag-Lloyd achieved a net profit of EUR 114 million (previous year: EUR -604 million) in the financial year 2015. EBITDA amounted to EUR 831 million (previous year: EUR 99 million) and the operating result (EBIT) to EUR 366 million (previous year: EUR -383 million).
In 2015, Hapag-Lloyd’s transport volume rose by 25.3 percent year on year to 7.401 million TEU. The average freight rate in the previous financial year was 1,225 USD/TEU, which represents a decline of 202 USD/TEU, or 14.2 percent, on 2014. Revenue reached EUR 8.842 billion in the past financial year, following EUR 6.808 billion in the previous year. The increases in volume and revenue were primarily attributable to the acquisition of CSAV’s container activities.
“In 2016 we will continue to work on our competitiveness, to maintain and further strengthen our performance in the industry,” explained Rolf Habben Jansen. “We are well positioned thanks to our balanced portfolio across all trades and our strong presence in attractive niche markets such as reefer, special cargo, dangerous goods or sabotage.”
