Hapag-Lloyd to Increasingly Focus on Growth, Service Quality

By Dominic Chopping

Hapag-Lloyd said it will increasingly focus on growth and service quality for the remainder of the year after recording strong demand and increased freight rates in the first half.

The German shipping company last month raised guidance after demand for container transport continued to rise, with strong earnings momentum.

Hostilities in the Middle East have sent container freight rates sharply higher, as attacks on merchant vessels in the Red Sea forced shippers to divert their vessels by thousands of miles to avoid the area, constraining capacity at the same time while demand has remained high.

The longer sailing times as well as a sharp increase in the number of vessels in the water to satisfy demand are having knock-on effects across global shipping networks, causing congestion on shipping routes and at transshipment hubs, and throwing ships off schedule.

Although the timing of any resolution to the hostilities is unclear, A.P. Moeller-Maersk recently said that it didn't expect any resolution to the Red Sea supply-chain disruption until at least the end of this year.

Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 14, 2024 02:27 ET (06:27 GMT)

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