HAPAG-LLOYD’S SHIPPING ARM SEES 45-PERCENT FALL IN 3RD-QUARTER PROFIT

HAPAG-LLOYD’S SHIPPING ARM SEES 45-PERCENT FALL IN 3RD-QUARTER PROFIT    The shipping arm of Hapag-Lloyd blamed low freight rates and difficult market conditions in container shipping for a 45-percent fall in its third-quarter profit, to 29 million euro ($29 million).
   Revenue from shipping fell by 8 percent, to 572 million euro ($572 million) in the latest quarter, despite an increase in transport volumes.
   “The year-on-year decline in results was attributable to low freight rates and the weakening of the U.S. dollar versus euro, a trend whose adverse effects on the earnings situation were only partly offset by means of productivity increases,” said a spokesman for TUI AG, the parent company of Hapag-Lloyd.
   Despite a slight increase in world trade, freight rates “only recovered gradually” since the business continued to be adversely affected by overcapacities on shipping routes, the group added.
   For the first nine months of the year, Hapag-Lloyd’s shipping arm earned a profit of 41 million euro ($41 million), 77 percent less than the 175-million-euro cumulative result for the corresponding nine-month period in 2001. Shipping revenues for the nine-month period decreased by 9 percent, to 1.67 billion euro ($1.67 billion).
   Meanwhile, Hapag-Lloyd’s non-shipping activities — comprising its VTG-Lehnkering and Algeco logistics businesses — recorded steady results for the third quarter. In the latest quarter, profit from logistics was 23 million euro ($23 million), the same as in the same quarter of 2001, while logistics revenue increased to 415 million euro ($415 million), from 372 million euro.