Transpacific boosts Hapag-Lloyd results

Transpacific boosts Hapag-Lloyd results    TUI AG, part owner of container liner carrier Hapag-Lloyd, said the German container carrier had sales of about 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion) in the three month period ending Dec. 31, a 34 percent increase over same period the prior year.
   “This was due to higher transport volumes and in particular the significant year-on-year rise in average freight rates,” the German carrier said, pointing to strength in the transpacific.
   Hapag-Lloyd carried about 1.2 million containers in the quarter, the first quarter in TUI’s fiscal year, 6.6 percent more than the comparable year-earlier period. The average freight rate for the quarter was $1,639 per TEU, up about 20 percent from $1,368 in the first quarter of 2009-2010.
   Operating earnings or EBITA by container shipping was 97 million euros ($132 million) in the first quarter compared to a loss of 21 million euros in the same 2009 period. Besides a more favorable exchange rate exchange rate of the U.S. dollar relative to the euro, the reasons for the substantial growth in earnings were higher transport volumes and freight rates, TUI said.
   TUI, whose main businesses are tourism related, owns 49.88 percent of Hapag-Lloyd.