HAMBURG-SUD REPORTS LOSS AND RECORD VOLUMES FOR 1999

HAMBURG-SUD REPORTS LOSS AND RECORD VOLUMES FOR 1999    Hamburg-Sud, the fast-growing German shipping group, said that it incurred a large deficit in 1999 and handled record cargo volumes following the acquisition of several carriers.
   Hamburg-Sud does not disclose its profit results, but admitted that vessel overcapacity, a fall in rates and soaring bunker costs caused the group “a great deal of trouble and substantial losses in 1999.”
   The German group, which owns Columbus Line, Transroll, Crowley American Transport, Alianca and South Pacific Container Lines, said that it took advantage of the crisis in the shipping industry to acquire other companies.
   Hamburg-Sud bought Transroll and South Pacific Container Lines last year and completed the purchase of the South American services of Crowley American Transport earlier this year.
   The group’s container carryings increased by 33 percent last year, to 517,000 TEUs, from 387,000 TEUs in 1998.
   Because of lower freight rates, group revenues rose by only 17 percent during the same period, to DM2.4 billion ($1.3 billion) in 1999, from DM2 billion in the previous year. Liner shipping revenues were DM1.7 billion ($890 million) in 1999, as compared to DM1.4 billion in 1998. Tramp shipping revenues were DM700 million ($370 million) last year, up from DM600 million in 1998.
   Hamburg-Sud said that it expects to improve its financial results and handle about 750,000 TEUs this year, a volume increase of 45 percent. The group expects a further recovery in the market and continued rate restoration, it said.
   Hamburg-Sud said that it has now largely completed its expansion by way of acquisitions.
   “The aim of the shipping group is to present itself in the marketplace with a clearly defined and identifiable multi-brand strategy,” a spokesman for the company said. Hamburg-Sud and Columbus Line are the group’s German carriers; Alianca and Transroll are Brazilian shipping companies with vessels under the Brazilian flag; and Crowley American Transport is an American liner operator, the group said.