HAMBURG (dpa-AFX) - As expected, Hamburg-based container shipping company Hapag-Lloyd has started the new year with a slump in profits. In the first quarter, consolidated earnings slumped to 1.89 billion euros, compared with 4.17 billion euros in the first quarter of the record year 2022, Hapag-Lloyd AG announced in Hamburg on Thursday. Revenue shrank by around 30 percent to 5.62 billion euros.

The background to this is the normalization of supply chains on the world's oceans, which have been strained for years, and the decline in demand for sea transports. This is leading to significantly lower prices. According to Hapag-Lloyd, the average freight rate fell from 2774 to 1999 dollars per standard container.

The huge dislocations in global supply chains had made container shipping companies winners in the Corona pandemic. Scarce capacities had caused prices for sea transports to keep rising after many crisis years with price wars, overcapacities and red figures./kf/DP/stk