Hapag-Lloyd publishes solid 2024 results, anticipates lower earnings this year
Hapag-Lloyd this week published its new annual report showing that a slight increase in the operating result was achieved in 2024. The Group EBITDA rose to USD 5.0 billion (EUR 4.6 billion). The Group EBIT slightly improved compared to the prior year, to USD 2.8 billion (EUR 2.6 billion) but at USD 2.6 billion (EUR 2.4 billion), the Group profit was below that of the prior year, particularly owing to lower interest income and higher tax expenses.
“In a challenging market environment, we achieved solid results and further increased customer satisfaction,” said Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd AG. “We have further consolidated and expanded our terminal business under the Hanseatic Global Terminals brand. We have worked hard to further improve processes which will yield results in the years to come and stepped up our investments in digitalisation and training of our people. Finally, we launched the largest newbuild program in our company’s history, which will enable us to further modernize and decarbonize our fleet.”
For the 2025 financial year, the Executive Board expects the Group EBITDA to be in the range of USD 2.5 to 4.0 billion (EUR 2.4 to 3.9 billion) and the Group EBIT to be in the range of USD 0.0 to 1.5 billion (EUR 0.0 to 1.5 billion). This outlook remains subject to considerable uncertainty due to the highly volatile development of freight rates and major geopolitical challenges.
“In 2025 we are off to a very good start with Gemini, but the economic and geopolitical environment remains fragile,” added Rolf Habben. “In this context, we anticipate earnings in 2025 to be lower than in 2024.
“In the first half of the current year, we will implement our Gemini network and expect to set new standards in terms of schedule reliability. We will continue to develop Hanseatic Global Terminals and await to further grow our inland business. At the same time, we will keep a very close eye on our unit costs and focus on becoming even more efficient and climate-friendly.”