Hamburg-based container liner shipping company Hapag-Lloyd has presented its balance sheet for the first quarter of 2025. Profits increased significantly. However, there are some uncertainties for the year as a whole, according to the headquarters on Ballindamm.
EBITDA for the first three months amounted to $1.1 billion, an increase of $162 million.
EBIT also increased in the same period from $394 million to $487 million. Consolidated profit even jumped by 45% to $469 million.
In the liner shipping segment, the No. 5 company in the global market, turnover rose from $4.5 billion to $5.2 billion. According to the company, this was mainly due to a transport volume of 3.3 million TEU and an average freight rate of $ 1,480/TEU. Both were up 9% on the same quarter in 2024 due to high demand. EBITDA improved by 18% to $1.1 billion compared to the first quarter of 2024, while EBIT increased by 25% to $472 million.
In the Terminal & Infrastructure segment, EBITDA of $36 million and EBIT of $15 million were generated in the first quarter of 2025 – both at a very similar level to the previous year. However, this could change in the future, as the acquisition of a majority stake in the CNMP LH Terminal in Le Havre has “secured strategically important access to the French market”, according to Hapag-Lloyd.
“With this quarterly result, we have made a good start to 2025,” said CEO Rolf Habben Jansen: In the Gemini Cooperation with Maersk, the planned high level of schedule reliability has been achieved, “with which we can clearly set ourselves apart from our competitors.”
However, the situation in the Red Sea and the effects of global tariffs and trade policies continue to cause concern for the entire logistics industry “and bring with them considerable uncertainty”.
The focus for the coming months will also be on cost-cutting measures: “We will continue to implement our Strategy 2030, pay consistent attention to our costs and aim to achieve additional savings of more than $1 billion within the next 18 months,” says Habben Jansen.
The uncertainties are also reflected in the expectations for the year as a whole. For the 2025 financial year, the Executive Board continues to expect Group EBITDA in a range of $2.5 to 4.0 billion and Group EBIT in a range of “$0 to 1.5 billion.” “In view of major geopolitical challenges and volatile freight rates, the forecast is subject to very high uncertainties,” the statement said.
