Hapag-Lloyd looks back on 2019 in joy, so far
In the first nine months of 2019, the Hamburg (Germany)-based carrier Hapag-Lloyd’s transport volume rose by 1.2% to 9-01 million teu (same period in 2018: 8.9 million teu). Revenues went up to approximately EUR 9.5 billion (2018: EUR 8.5 billion). Earnings before interest and taxes (ebit) saw an uptick to EUR 643 million (2018: EUR 299 million).
The group net result surged substantially to EUR 297 million (9M/2018: EUR 13 million). Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) surpassed EUR 1.5 billion (9M/2018: EUR 812 million), while the increase of EUR 699 million included a positive effect of approximately EUR 341 million caused by new reporting standards.
The average freight rate rose by +4.2% to 1,075 USD/teu (2018: 1,032 USD/teu). Transport expenses increased by 3.5%, which was, however, to some extent due to a slightly higher average bunker consumption price of USD 425/t (2018: USD 406/t) and a stronger average US dollar exchange rate against the EUR.
For the full financial year 2019, Hapag-Lloyd expects an ebitda in the range of EUR 1.6 to 2.0 billion and an ebit in the range of EUR 0.5 to 0.9 billion. (fd)