Hamburg Süd: Costs lower results of the liner business

Results of Hamburg Süd‘s liner shipping business for 2011 was considerably below the figure of the previous year
 
Liner shipping business of the shipping company Hamburg Süd did not meet the expectations for 2011. However cargo volume transported worldwide rose 9 per cent to 3.1 million TEU thanks to the positive volume developments in traffic ex Asia and on Inter-America services. In line with that turnover was raised by around 6 per cent to EUR 4.2 billion. But the cost increases outgrew the increase in revenues by far. As a consequence, the result of the liner sector in 2011 fell significantly below that of the record year of 2010, as the enterprise announced on 17 April.
 
Hamburg Süd succeeded in holding freight rates for container shipping business overall on a par with the previous year. Nonetheless, revenues in many trades were not sufficient to achieve surpluses against the background of a sharp rise in operational costs. The average bunker price alone (basis Rotterdam), at approximately 620 USD/ton, was some 37 per cent higher on average than the previous year. Additionally, there were significant increases in variable costs, especially for cargo handling in the ports and for pre- and post-carriage transportation on land.
 
Against this background Hamburg Süd’s liner network was further optimised. Via key transhipment hubs in Cartagena (Colombia) or Tangiers (Morocco), customers are offered additional connections between South America and Europe as well as the Middle East. On the routes from Europe to the eastern Mediterranean, a new vessel sharing agreement was implemented with another shipping company and this is to be expanded in 2012 with, amongst other things, the deployment of larger and more efficient vessels. Moreover, additional capacity is being provided in the growing trade lanes from Europe to India and Pakistan.

Quelle: LogEastics

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