German shipping major Hapag-Lloyd has seen the return to normal operations reflected in its preliminary annual figures. Gone are the days of sky-high freight rates and record earnings of 2022. In its latest report, the company revealed its gross earnings (EBIT) of €2.5 billion ($2.7 billion), a far cry from the €17.billion ($20.5 billion) reported a year prior. 

Hapag-Lloyd said the decrease in earnings is an expected one and is largely attributed to lower freight rates resulting from the normalisation of global supply chains. The preliminary figures show a sobering reality check ahead of the audited financial figures that will be unveiled in March.

Revenues decreased to €17.9 billion ($19.4 billion), primarily owing to a lower average freight rate of 1,500 USD/TEU (2022: 2,863 USD/TEU) which is a drop of 48 per cent. Transport volumes for 2023 as a whole rose by 0.5 per cent to 11.9 million TEU (2022: 11.8 million TEU). However, the conflict in the Red Sea negatively impacted transport volumes at the end of the year, as the rerouting of ships around the Cape of Good Hope extended voyage times.

it is worth reminding that the company struck an alliance with Maersk and launched a new long-term operational collaboration called Gemini Cooperation. The company has therefore decided to leave THE Alliance at the end of January 2025.

The new cooperation between Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk will comprise a fleet pool of around 290 vessels with a combined capacity of 3.4 million containers (TEU); Maersk will deploy 60 per cent and Hapag-Lloyd 40 per cent.