News / 'Look to costs' says Hapag-Lloyd CEO, as freight rates are 'unsustainable'

Photo: Hapag-Lloyd.

Hapag-Lloyd saw its second-quarter net profit slump 77% on the previous year, to $1.1bn, despite benefiting from a bottom line boost of $212m from interest and other financial items.

“Weaker demand and lower freight rates are having a noticeable impact on our earnings,” said CEO Rolf Habben Jansen this morning, adding that freight rates on some tradelanes were “unsustainable”.

He explained that freight rates ‘normalising’ to the pre-pandemic levels of 2019 would mean loss-making voyages, given that operating costs on some routes ...