Habben Jansen expects congestion to end
Optimism is Rolf Habben Jansen's third motto, caution his second one. More punctual shipping connections and lower transport costs are on the horizon if additional terminal employees can be recruited, amongst other things, he explained at an online media event earlier in February.
The Hapag-Lloyd CEO pointed to the deployment of all 257 ships and all of HL's logistics resources currently in operation to keep transport chains open. In the pipeline are twelve more ships, each with a capacity of more than 23,500 teu each, and ten ships of 13,000 teu each. Shipyard stays and scrapping have also been reduced to the minimum necessary.
HL's profits of approximately EUR 9.4 billion in 2021 will primarily benefit shareholders and be used to renew and modernise the fleet, Habben Jansen said. He rejected major acquisitions or an expansion of the carrier into a multimodal end-to-end player, currently all the rage in the industry.
On the other hand, a concentration of transhipment hubs and possible investments in terminals are on the agenda. However, strict cost discipline remains the top priority. The fact that transport volumes in 2021, at 11.8 million teu, trended sideways compared with 2020 (11.9 million teu), doesn't bother Hapag-Lloyd in view of its own capacity utilisation. (cd)