1. How has been the business for Hapag Lloyd, last year and through this year?
We look back on an exceptionally successful year 2021 in which we invested massively in modern vessels and new containers. In addition, we have significantly strengthened our financial and asset position. However, transport expenses have unfortunately also risen significantly, mainly due to the bottlenecks in the global supply chains. In 2022, and thanks to higher freight rates, we have achieved an exceptionally strong nine-month result. However, we are also seeing that the market environment has deteriorated further in the third quarter. This is evident, for example, in falling spot rates and rising inflation-related unit costs.
2. Trends that will drive the shipping and logistics sector in the months to come?
In the coming months, the strained situation in the global supply chains should continue to normalise. At the same time, our strong balance sheet will help us to stay on course even in difficult waters. We will stick to our strategic agenda while investing more in quality and growth as well as in the further decarbonisation of our fleet. One very significant focus is investment in infrastructure, which we are using to further expand our terminal portfolio.
3. The current geo-political scenario and its impact on the global supply chains?
We are seeing that demand and spot rates are going down in key trades whilst transport capacity is released due to an easing of congestion in many port worldwide. At the same time, costs are rising due to inflation in many countries, which is also reflected in an increase of our unit costs, particularly due to higher bunker expenses.
4. What will be the major challenges the logistics community will face in the days to come?
Climate change is the biggest problem of the modern age and must be stopped. Around 90% of all globally traded goods are currently transported by sea – at the same time, the shipping industry is collectively responsible for approximately 3% of all CO2 emissions worldwide. We need to do better on this issue and significantly reduce our carbon footprint in the years ahead. For this reason, we have made “sustainability” the fourth core focus of our Strategy 2023 and set concrete goals for ourselves. Specifically, we aim to reduce the CO2e intensity of our entire fleet by 30% by 2030 and to become carbon-neutral by 2045. Hapag-Lloyd aims to achieve this ambitious goal by deploying new and more efficient ships, phasing out old ships, using alternative fuels and introducing additional measures to reduce emissions.
5. Scenario of trade among south Asian nations?
South Asia offers attractive growth opportunities and India is one of our key growth markets. For this reason, we are improving our service offering for our customers on a regular basis. In May 2022 for example, we started our new MAX service from India via Middle East to Maputo. Additionally, and just recently, we opened a new Global Service Center in Mumbai for 1,100 of our colleagues, which will help us on our journey to becoming Number One for Quality for our customers.
