Latest news with #HabbenJansen
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Hapag-Lloyd lowers 2025 earnings forecast, seeks savings
FRANKFURT, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Container shipping firm Hapag-Lloyd ( opens new tab on Thursday reported a 3.1% decline in first-half net income and lowered the top end of its full-year earnings forecast, which has prompted it to focus on cost savings over the next 12-18 months. CEO Rolf Habben Jansen told analysts that start-up spending on its Gemini cooperation with competitor Maersk ( opens new tab, fidgety customers amid changing U.S. trade policies, and virtual closure of the Suez Canal weighed on profits. "The Gemini transition cost was a three-million dollar digit figure," said Habben Jansen in a call with analysts, adding port congestions amid tariff to and fro, as well as costly alternatives to the Suez route had also led to spiralling costs. "A 1 billion euros (savings programme) is realistic to (be achieved) by the end of next year," he added. Houthi militant attacks on vessel owners in the Middle East forced shippers to avoid the region. Germany's Hapag-Lloyd, the world's fifth-largest shipping firm, earlier projected full-year earnings before interest and taxes ranging between 200 million euros and 1.1 billion euros, compared with a previously expected range of breakeven to 1.5 billion euros. Core profit was 24% lower at 619 million euros in the six months at the German company. Its stock in a small free float was 7.2% down at 1100 GMT. Net income in the first half fell 3.1% to 709 million euros ($829 million) while revenues were up 10% at 9.7 billion euros and transport volumes grew 10.6% to 6.7 million 20-foot-equivalent (TEU) containers. Gemini brings synergies from a network of 340 ships on seven trade corridors, which will begin to pay off from the second half of 2025, Habben Jansen said. But inflation, higher prices of shipyards, carbon permits and cleaner fuels could not be argued away. ($1 = 0.8549 euros)
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hapag-Lloyd Bookings Double on China-US Route in Weeks After Tariff Truce
After the temporary tariff relief on Chinese imports into the U.S. resulted in a 50-percent one-week surge in bookings for Hapag-Lloyd on the trade route between countries, container flow accelerated even further in the weeks after. Bookings out of China more than doubled in the three weeks after the 90-day trade truce was put into effect, according to CEO Rolf Habben Jansen. More from Sourcing Journal Guess Limits Tariff Impact to Less Than $10M, Adjusts Sourcing and Buying Strategies Panama Canal Sees Post-Drought Spike in Container Shipping Transits US Trade Deficit Contracted in April Amid Tariff-Driven Import Paralysis 'We now need to see over the upcoming couple of weeks what is going to happen, and how much of that cargo rush is going to remain,' said Habben Jansen in a recent online panel discussion hosted by the ocean carrier. Despite various projections calling for a contraction in global container volumes for the year, Hapag-Lloyd revised its outlook upward from its previous flat growth forecast on the back of the recent uptick, projecting global container demand to increase 4 percent. 'I would still expect us to see decent growth in the second quarter,' said Habben Jansen. While China-to-U.S. volumes account for roughly 5 percent of Hapag-Lloyd's total business, the U.S. overall represents 27 percent of its volumes, Habben Jansen said. Approximately 22 percent of global container flows at the company go through American ports. With the U.S. remaining a sizable chunk of the liner's business, the concerns of volatility stemming from the stop-and-start nature of President Donald Trump's tariff decisions makes it challenging to plan for. Case in point, in the company's earnings call in mid-May, the CEO said Hapag-Lloyd saw bookings decrease 20 percent on average in the period after the Liberation Day tariffs were applied and ahead of the tariff rollback. But the China-to-U.S. demand picked up so quickly that Hapag-Lloyd and Gemini Cooperation partner Maersk introduced a new direct trans-Pacific service with a rotation of Xiamen, China; Busan, South Korea; and Long Beach, Calif.. The first sailing will take place out of Xiamen on June 24. The 'WC6' service will connect Busan and Long Beach with a transit time of 14 days, and a competitive direct Xiamen service into Long Beach in 18 days. Hapag-Lloyd's move reflects the industry at large, which has sought to add more capacity on the trans-Pacific trade lane to capitalize on shippers' rush to get cargo space ahead of tariff deadlines in July and August. As the Gemini alliance partners prep to start their new service offering, the carriers still lead the pack when it comes to schedule reliability, keeping their 90 percent schedule reliability goal intact across March and April. The alliance expects to be fully 'phased in' by July, meaning that all shared vessels will sail on Gemini schedules. 'Only then will it be possible to truly evaluate their performance,' said Alan Murphy, CEO of Sea-Intelligence, in the monthly update. Gemini Cooperation officially came in with 90.7 percent reliability, with MSC following suit far behind at 69.8 percent. The Premier Alliance of Ocean Network Express (ONE), HMM and Yang Ming recorded 53 percent reliability in the two-month stretch. Habben Jansen said he was encouraged by the alliance's ability to ensure Hapag-Lloyd's first-quarter volumes surpassed the wider market with 9 percent growth, ahead of the 4.2 percent global growth experienced by the wider container shipping sector. 'That was the intention when we started [the partnership]. We knew that we needed to attract more volumes to fill those ships, also because we lose fewer sailings as we don't do blank sailings, as we used to do,' Habben Jansen said. 'And we sail on time, which basically means that we can use the ships more often. It's very nice to see that also reflected in the numbers, and hopefully we'll see more of that as we move into Q2.' Although competitor CMA CGM has introduced another service line back on the Suez Canal route, Hapag-Lloyd does not have intentions of following suit—the attitude still taken by most major container shipping firms. According to Habben Jansen, the story remains the same. There must be a clear indication that vessels and crew will be safe from potential Houthi attacks. 'If we go back then we will have to do that step by step, as we would like to avoid chaos in the Mediterranean and in Europe in particular, and to a lesser extent, on the East Coast of the U.S.,' said Habben Jansen. 'Right now, we do not see any signs that it is going to be and remain safe in the near future.' Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hapag-Lloyd Bookings Double on China-US Route in Weeks After Tariff Truce
After the temporary tariff relief on Chinese imports into the U.S. resulted in a 50-percent one-week surge in bookings for Hapag-Lloyd on the trade route between countries, container flow accelerated even further in the weeks after. Bookings out of China more than doubled in the three weeks after the 90-day trade truce was put into effect, according to CEO Rolf Habben Jansen. More from Sourcing Journal Guess Limits Tariff Impact to Less Than $10M, Adjusts Sourcing and Buying Strategies Panama Canal Sees Post-Drought Spike in Container Shipping Transits US Trade Deficit Contracted in April Amid Tariff-Driven Import Paralysis 'We now need to see over the upcoming couple of weeks what is going to happen, and how much of that cargo rush is going to remain,' said Habben Jansen in a recent online panel discussion hosted by the ocean carrier. Despite various projections calling for a contraction in global container volumes for the year, Hapag-Lloyd revised its outlook upward from its previous flat growth forecast on the back of the recent uptick, projecting global container demand to increase 4 percent. 'I would still expect us to see decent growth in the second quarter,' said Habben Jansen. While China-to-U.S. volumes account for roughly 5 percent of Hapag-Lloyd's total business, the U.S. overall represents 27 percent of its volumes, Habben Jansen said. Approximately 22 percent of global container flows at the company go through American ports. With the U.S. remaining a sizable chunk of the liner's business, the concerns of volatility stemming from the stop-and-start nature of President Donald Trump's tariff decisions makes it challenging to plan for. Case in point, in the company's earnings call in mid-May, the CEO said Hapag-Lloyd saw bookings decrease 20 percent on average in the period after the Liberation Day tariffs were applied and ahead of the tariff rollback. But the China-to-U.S. demand picked up so quickly that Hapag-Lloyd and Gemini Cooperation partner Maersk introduced a new direct trans-Pacific service with a rotation of Xiamen, China; Busan, South Korea; and Long Beach, Calif.. The first sailing will take place out of Xiamen on June 24. The 'WC6' service will connect Busan and Long Beach with a transit time of 14 days, and a competitive direct Xiamen service into Long Beach in 18 days. Hapag-Lloyd's move reflects the industry at large, which has sought to add more capacity on the trans-Pacific trade lane to capitalize on shippers' rush to get cargo space ahead of tariff deadlines in July and August. As the Gemini alliance partners prep to start their new service offering, the carriers still lead the pack when it comes to schedule reliability, keeping their 90 percent schedule reliability goal intact across March and April. The alliance expects to be fully 'phased in' by July, meaning that all shared vessels will sail on Gemini schedules. 'Only then will it be possible to truly evaluate their performance,' said Alan Murphy, CEO of Sea-Intelligence, in the monthly update. Gemini Cooperation officially came in with 90.7 percent reliability, with MSC following suit far behind at 69.8 percent. The Premier Alliance of Ocean Network Express (ONE), HMM and Yang Ming recorded 53 percent reliability in the two-month stretch. Habben Jansen said he was encouraged by the alliance's ability to ensure Hapag-Lloyd's first-quarter volumes surpassed the wider market with 9 percent growth, ahead of the 4.2 percent global growth experienced by the wider container shipping sector. 'That was the intention when we started [the partnership]. We knew that we needed to attract more volumes to fill those ships, also because we lose fewer sailings as we don't do blank sailings, as we used to do,' Habben Jansen said. 'And we sail on time, which basically means that we can use the ships more often. It's very nice to see that also reflected in the numbers, and hopefully we'll see more of that as we move into Q2.' Although competitor CMA CGM has introduced another service line back on the Suez Canal route, Hapag-Lloyd does not have intentions of following suit—the attitude still taken by most major container shipping firms. According to Habben Jansen, the story remains the same. There must be a clear indication that vessels and crew will be safe from potential Houthi attacks. 'If we go back then we will have to do that step by step, as we would like to avoid chaos in the Mediterranean and in Europe in particular, and to a lesser extent, on the East Coast of the U.S.,' said Habben Jansen. 'Right now, we do not see any signs that it is going to be and remain safe in the near future.'
Economic Times
26-05-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
Shipping bottlenecks in Europe send a warning signal to US, Asia
iStock Compounding the constraints is US President Donald Trump's temporary rollback on 145% tariffs on Chinese imports, which has pulled forward shipping demand between the world's largest economies. Port congestion is worsening at key gateways in northern Europe and other hubs, according to a new report which suggests trade wars could spread maritime disruptions to Asia and the US and push up shipping times for berth space jumped 77% in Bremerhaven, Germany, between late March and mid-May, according to the report Friday from Drewry, a maritime consultancy in London. The delays rose 37% in Antwerp and 49% in Hamburg over the same stretch, with Rotterdam and the UK's Felixstowe also showing longer waits. Labor shortages and low water levels on the Rhine River are the main culprits, hindering barge traffic to and from inland locations. Compounding the constraints is US President Donald Trump's temporary rollback on 145% tariffs on Chinese imports, which has pulled forward shipping demand between the world's largest economies.'Port delays are stretching transit times, disrupting inventory planning and pushing shippers to carry extra stock,' Drewry said. 'Adding to the pressure, the transpacific eastbound trade is showing signs of an early peak season, fueled by a 90-day pause in US–China tariffs, set to expire on Aug. 14.'Similar patterns are emerging in Shenzhen, China, as well as Los Angeles and New York, 'where the number of container ships awaiting berth has been increasing since' late-April, it Habben Jansen, chief executive officer of Hamburg-based Hapag-Lloyd AG, said on a webinar last week that, although he's seen recent signs of improvement at European ports, he expects it will take 'another six to eight weeks before we have that under control.' Still, Torsten Slok, Apollo Management's chief economist, pointed out in a note on Sunday that the US-China tariff truce reached almost two weeks ago hasn't yet unleashed a surge in ships across the Pacific.'This raises the question: Are 30% tariffs on China still too high? Or are US companies simply waiting to see if tariffs will drop further before ramping up shipments?' Slok wrote. US tariffs – combined with sudden threats and truces – make it difficult for importers and exporters to calibrate their orders, causing unseasonal swings in demand. For shipping lines, those translate into delays and higher costs requiring freight rate hikes. The latest blow to visibility came Friday, when Trump threatened to hit the European Union with a 50% tariff on June 1, a move that could roil transatlantic trade.'The additional policy uncertainty will be a deadweight cost to global activity by adding risks to decisions on expenditures,' Oxford Economics said in a research note on Saturday. Germany, Ireland, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands are the most vulnerable given their ratios of US exports to GDP, it Economics said in a research note Friday that 'additional tariffs of 50% would likely reduce EU exports to the US for all products facing reciprocal duties to near zero — cutting total EU exports to the US by more than half.'Mounting uncertainty about whether Trump would follow through on such a big trade threat or postpone it like he did with China is adding to shipping including MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co., the world's largest container line, had already announced general rate increases and peak season surcharges, starting in June, for cargo from the weeks ahead, those are likely to boost spot rates for seaborne freight, the cost of which is still underpinned by geopolitical ships are still largely avoiding the Red Sea, where Yemen-based Houthis started attacking vessels in late 2023, and sailing around southern Africa to ferry goods on routes that connect Asia, Europe and the the webinar, Habben Jansen said it's still not safe to traverse the Red Sea and indicated that any eventual restoration of regular journeys through the Suez Canal would have to be gradual, perhaps taking several months, to avoid flooding ports with vessel traffic.'If we would from one day to another shift those ships back through Suez, we would create massive congestion in many of the ports,' Habben Jansen said. 'So our approach would be that if we can do it, that we do it over a longer period of time so that the ports do not collapse, because that's in nobody's interest.'
Time of India
26-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Shipping bottlenecks in Europe send a warning signal to US, Asia
Bloomberg Live Events EU-US Dispute Avoiding 'Massive Congestion' Port congestion is worsening at key gateways in northern Europe and other hubs, according to a new report which suggests trade wars could spread maritime disruptions to Asia and the US and push up shipping times for berth space jumped 77% in Bremerhaven, Germany, between late March and mid-May, according to the report Friday from Drewry, a maritime consultancy in London. The delays rose 37% in Antwerp and 49% in Hamburg over the same stretch, with Rotterdam and the UK's Felixstowe also showing longer shortages and low water levels on the Rhine River are the main culprits, hindering barge traffic to and from inland locations. Compounding the constraints is US President Donald Trump's temporary rollback on 145% tariffs on Chinese imports, which has pulled forward shipping demand between the world's largest economies.'Port delays are stretching transit times, disrupting inventory planning and pushing shippers to carry extra stock,' Drewry said. 'Adding to the pressure, the transpacific eastbound trade is showing signs of an early peak season, fueled by a 90-day pause in US–China tariffs, set to expire on Aug. 14.'Similar patterns are emerging in Shenzhen, China, as well as Los Angeles and New York, 'where the number of container ships awaiting berth has been increasing since' late-April, it Habben Jansen, chief executive officer of Hamburg-based Hapag-Lloyd AG, said on a webinar last week that, although he's seen recent signs of improvement at European ports, he expects it will take 'another six to eight weeks before we have that under control.'Still, Torsten Slok, Apollo Management's chief economist, pointed out in a note on Sunday that the US-China tariff truce reached almost two weeks ago hasn't yet unleashed a surge in ships across the Pacific.'This raises the question: Are 30% tariffs on China still too high? Or are US companies simply waiting to see if tariffs will drop further before ramping up shipments?' Slok tariffs – combined with sudden threats and truces – make it difficult for importers and exporters to calibrate their orders, causing unseasonal swings in demand. For shipping lines, those translate into delays and higher costs requiring freight rate latest blow to visibility came Friday, when Trump threatened to hit the European Union with a 50% tariff on June 1, a move that could roil transatlantic trade.'The additional policy uncertainty will be a deadweight cost to global activity by adding risks to decisions on expenditures,' Oxford Economics said in a research note on Saturday. Germany, Ireland, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands are the most vulnerable given their ratios of US exports to GDP, it Economics said in a research note Friday that 'additional tariffs of 50% would likely reduce EU exports to the US for all products facing reciprocal duties to near zero — cutting total EU exports to the US by more than half.'Mounting uncertainty about whether Trump would follow through on such a big trade threat or postpone it like he did with China is adding to shipping including MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co., the world's largest container line, had already announced general rate increases and peak season surcharges, starting in June, for cargo from the weeks ahead, those are likely to boost spot rates for seaborne freight, the cost of which is still underpinned by geopolitical ships are still largely avoiding the Red Sea, where Yemen-based Houthis started attacking vessels in late 2023, and sailing around southern Africa to ferry goods on routes that connect Asia, Europe and the the webinar, Habben Jansen said it's still not safe to traverse the Red Sea and indicated that any eventual restoration of regular journeys through the Suez Canal would have to be gradual, perhaps taking several months, to avoid flooding ports with vessel traffic.'If we would from one day to another shift those ships back through Suez, we would create massive congestion in many of the ports,' Habben Jansen said. 'So our approach would be that if we can do it, that we do it over a longer period of time so that the ports do not collapse, because that's in nobody's interest.'
