| SHIPPING FINANCE |
Giant shipping companies report record quarter profits: Market has peaked!
While South Korea-based giant shipping company HMM reported its best quarter ever with a profit of over 60 percent with a margin of more than $2.4 billion in the first three months of the year, Hapag Lloyd more than tripled its profits in the first quarter of 2022 despite stable volumes and increased it to $4.7 billion.
South Korea-based giant shipping company HMM, reported its best quarter ever, making a profit of $2.4 billion with a margin of over 60 percent in the first three months of the year. It was the sixth consecutive quarter that HMM reported profit after years of losses.
More than doubled from the previous year!
First quarter revenue more than doubled year-over-year, driven by freight rates that have increased nearly 75 percent since the same period in 2021. The late pandemic surge in western demand and the resulting container terminal congestion have triggered container freight rates to skyrocket.
Instability will continue
HMM predicts that the instability in the freight market will continue due to the repercussions of the quarantine measures in China and the occupation of Ukraine. While inflation could hurt consumer demand growth in Asia-North America trade, which is the biggest part of HMM’s business, the company believes the eventual easing of the lockdown in Shanghai will drive an increase in container rates in the coming months.
Hapag Lloyd’s profit tripled: Warns the market
Despite stable volumes, Hapag-Lloyd’s profit more than tripled to $4.7 billion in the first quarter of 2022, while it reported an increase of more than 80 percent in its revenues. Stating that the quarter will be higher than expected due to freight rates, Hapag said that he expected normalization to come and warned that the market had peaked.
“The year has got off to an exceptionally strong start on the whole, and while there have been first signs that the market has passed its peak, we also expect a strong second quarter,” said Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd. He however also pointed to current market factors including Russia’s war in Ukraine, which is putting further strain on the already disrupted global supply chains, as well as China’s COVID-19 policies that were impacting port and logistic activities. He also noted that spot rates were softening as a result of seasonality and lower volumes.
Source: Maritime Executive / TR-Seanews