Hapag-Lloyd can afford further acquisitions
Hamburg-based carrier Hapag-Lloyd has released its audited results for 2020. While revenues went up by 3.3%, amounting to USD 14,6 billion, ebitda grew significantly by 38.6% compared to 2019, passing the threshold of USD 3 billion.
The group's net result witnessed a great leap of 155.4% to USD 1.1 billion (EUR 935 million). Cost savings amounted to more than USD 500 million, and the shipping company also benefited from slightly improved freight rates (+4%) and lower bunker prices.
“We were able to benefit from unexpectedly strong demand for container transports in the second half of the year (...and ) we have been able to earn our cost of capital for the first time in a decade,” said Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd.
Yet, the transported volumes in 2020 were 1.6% below the level of the previous year, at 11.8 million teu (2019: 12.0 million teu). Furthermore, around USD 1.3 billion of financial debt was repaid on balance (excluding IFRS 16) in 2020. (cd)