FRANKFURT, March 14 (Reuters) - German container shipper Hapag-Lloyd on Thursday posted a net profit of 3.0 billion euros ($3.28 billion) for 2023, down 83% from a year earlier, and cut its dividend by 85% in what it called a challenging market environment.

"We achieved the third-best Group profit in the history of our company – even if it is significantly lower than it was in the exceptionally strong year 2022 due to the normalisation of global supply chains," said Chief Executive Rolf Habben Jansen.

"We ... expect to see an overall decrease in earnings in 2024," he said, citing the crisis in the Red Sea, where commercial shippers skip the Suez Cana after Yemen-based Houthi militants have begun attacking ships.

Hapag-Lloyd, the world's fifth-biggest container liner, had benefited from soaring prices in 2022 as global trade faced hiccups during its recovery from the coronavirus crisis, but a return to more secure logistics has cut freights sharply.

The dividend proposal will be 9.25 euros per share, down from 63 euros previously.

Bigger competitor Maersk last month said that industry overcapacity would hit its profits more than expected this year.

($1 = 0.9143 euros) (Reporting by Vera Eckert, editing by Miranda Murray)