HAPAG-LLOYD’S SECOND-QUARTER PROFIT

HAPAG-LLOYD’S SECOND-QUARTER PROFIT    Hapag-Lloyd’s shipping and logistics activities saw their combined profit halved in the second quarter, the company’s parent company reported.
   The German conglomerate TUI, previously known as Preussag, said that its logistics arm — Hapag-Lloyd — made a combined profit of 43 million euro ($42 million) in the second quarter, down from 92 million euro in the second quarter of 2001.
   The shipping activities of Hapag-Lloyd suffered the most, with a 71-percent decrease in profit in the latest quarter, to 17 million euro ($17 million), from 58 million euro. Revenues from shipping over the same period fell by 9 percent, to 568 million euro ($557 million).
   The logistics businesses run by Hapag-Lloyd — consisting of VTG-Lehnkering and Algeco — made a profit of 26 million euro ($25 million) in the second quarter, down from 34 million euro, on revenues of 387 million euro ($379 million), up from 370 million euro.
   “In the logistics division, the slow growth in world trade continued to impair the container shipping business which continued to be characterized by overcapacities so that maritime freight rates did not start to pick up again slowly until the end of the quarter,” TUI said.
   However, the second quarter profit of 17 million euro from shipping compares favorably with a loss of 5 million euro (about $5 million) in the first quarter of this year.
   TUI said that its logistics division was unable to reproduce “the extraordinarily high results achieved last year, in particular in container shipping.”
   For the first six months, Hapag-Lloyd’s shipping activities posted a profit of 12 million euro ($12 million), down 90 percent from 122 million euro in the first half of 2001.
   “The decline reflected in particular the strong reductions in freight rates compared with last year’s reference period but also a more unfavorable exchange rate between the U.S dollar and the euro,” TUI commented.
   Hapag-Lloyd increased its container traffic volume by about 9 percent, compared with the first half of the previous year.
   For the first six months, Hapag-Lloyd’s non-shipping, logistics activities made a profit of 45 million euro ($44 million), down from 53 million in the first half of 2001.
   The combined profit of Hapag-Lloyd’s shipping and logistics activities in the first half of the year amounted to 57 million euro ($56 million), 67 percent down from the 175 million euro result in the first half of 2001.