The German shipping company, of which CSAV is one of the main shareholders, said that they expect a very strong growth in their Q1 2021 earnings.

Furthermore, they expect EBITDA and EBIT for 2021 to be higher than last year’s.

Hamburg, February 16, 2021. Earlier today the German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd, the fifth largest global carrier in the containership industry and of which CSAV is one of the main shareholders, published the outlook of its expected results for Q1 2021. According to their comments, the company ‘has got the year off to a very good start thanks to exceptionally strong demand for container transports, which has led to a much higher level of freight rates’.

In accordance with their preliminary figures for January and the current business situation, the Executive Board of Hapag-Lloyd expects EBITDA for the first quarter of this year to be, at least, USD 1,800 million and EBIT to be, at least, USD 1,500 million. These results are considered by the Board ‘to be significantly higher than in the prior-year period’, when EBITDA and EBIT were USD 517 million y USD 176 million, respectively.

Regarding the Outlook for 2021 business year, the Board also expects that the whole period surpasses 2020’s performance. However, they warn that this is ‘subject to considerable uncertainty due to a number of factors, including: the above average volatility of freight rates at this time; operational challenges caused by existing infrastructural bottlenecks, among other things; and the inability to predict the further course or economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic’.

“We will see a very strong result in the first quarter, but we anticipate a normalisation as the year progresses. We are still seeing slower container turn times, significant congestion in ports around the globe, capacity constraints in rail and truck, and the risks of the coronavirus pandemic remain.
Nevertheless, we do also expect that the result for 2021 as a whole will be significantly higher than the prior-year level. At the same time, we will continue to keep our focus on our employees,
serving our customers in the best possible way and the implementation of our Strategy 2023,” said Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd.

Additional details on the 2021 forecast will be published with the release of the 2020 Annual Report on 18 March 2021. The final business figures for the first quarter of 2021 will also be published as planned on 12 May 2021.