Hapag-Lloyd is expecting Group EBITDA to be in the range of $2.5-4 billion and Group EBIT to be in the range of $0-1.5 billion for 2025 compared to $5 billion and $2.8 billion, respectively in 2024.
The outlook remains subject to considerable uncertainty due to the highly volatile development of freight rates and major geopolitical challenges, the company said while releasing its 2024 annual report.
“In 2025, we are off to a very good start with Gemini, but the economic and geopolitical environment remains fragile,” says Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO, Hapag-Lloyd. “In this context , we anticipate earnings in 2025 to be lower than in 2024. In the first half of the current year, we will implement our Gemini network and expect to set new standards in terms of schedule reliability. We will continue to develop Hanseatic Global Terminals and await to further grow our inland business. At the same time, we will keep a very close eye on our unit costs and focus on becoming even more efficient and climate-friendly.”
2024 numbers fly
In the liner shipping segment, transport volumes for 2024 as a whole rose by 4.7 percent to 12.5 million TEU, average freight rate remained stable at $1,492/TEU (2023: 1,500 USD/TEU) and revenue increased to $20.3 billion.
The Terminal & Infrastructure segment recorded an improvement in its EBITDA to $151 million due to several acquisitions in the course of the previous financial year. While EBIT zoomed to $72 million from $18 million in 2023, revenue more than doubled to $434 million.
“In a challenging market environment, we achieved solid results and further increased customer satisfaction. We have further consolidated and expanded our terminal business under the Hanseatic Global Terminals brand. We have worked hard to further improve processes which will yield results in the years to come and stepped up our investments in digitalisation and training of our people. Finally, we launched the largest newbuild programme in our company’s history, which will enable us to further modernise and decarbonize our fleet,” says Jansen.