Hamburg Süd expects overcapacity of container slots in 2015

At the end of March Hamburg Süd took over the activities of the Chilenian shipping line CCNI; short decrease of total sales in 2014

As previously announced, Hamburg Süd took over the liner services of Compañía Chilena de Navegación Interoceánica (CCNI) at the end of March of this year. The services connect the West coast of South America to Asia, North America and Europe. This increases the shipping group’s transport volume by slightly less than 10 per cent, or around 300,000 TEU. The integration will take place in the first half of 2015.

As of 31 December 2014, the Hamburg Süd fleet comprised a total of 168 ships, 46 of which were owned by the group. Of these, 112 ships were deployed on liner services and 56 chartered-in ships were employed in tramp operations (bulkers, product tankers). As in the previous year, the fleet was expanded by additional ships in the “Cap San” series with a capacity of 9,600 TEU each. These were complemented by additional ships in the “San” class with a capacity of 9,000 TEU. This brings the number of ships in service with a slot capacity of at least 9,000 TEU and a high number of reefer slots for refrigerated containers to 13 units, mainly deployed on the Asia-Europe and Europe-South American East coast routes.

However, a further acceleration of net slot growth is likely for 2015. With a rise in global container transports of around 5 per cent and anticipated record growth in slot capacity of 8 per cent, the overcapacity of container slots is continuing to increase.

The weak economic development in Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela contributed to the low, and in some cases negative, growth on the North-South trade lanes. Consequently, Hamburg Süd and its Brazilian subsidiary Aliança were able to increase transport volume by 2 per cent only to around 3.4 million TEU. With freight rates falling and a weak US dollar as the most important earnings currency, total sales fell at the same time by around 1 per cent to EUR 5.2 billion. Results from liner operations remained positive, albeit significantly lower than in the previous year.

Not least driven by the declining economic momentum in China, bulk shipping once again had to contend with difficult market conditions in 2014 and was unable to move out of the red. The number of staff employed by the shipping group grew by 4 per cent compared to the previous year to 5,360 employees (including 1,383 crew and excluding trainees). Capital expenditures stood at EUR 348 million, which was 23 per cent lower than in the previous year, and were financed entirely from cash flow. These mainly comprise deposits and final payments for ten ships of between 4,800 and 9,600 TEU.

www.hamburgsud.com

Quelle: LogEastics
Portal: www.logistik-express.com

Schreibe einen Kommentar

Translate »