{"id":84181,"date":"2026-02-10T22:12:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T01:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shipping.einnews.com\/article\/891219633"},"modified":"2026-02-10T22:12:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T01:12:21","slug":"falling-freight-rates-undercut-hapag-lloyd-earnings-overshadow-volumea-gains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/10\/falling-freight-rates-undercut-hapag-lloyd-earnings-overshadow-volumea-gains\/","title":{"rendered":"Falling Freight Rates Undercut Hapag-Lloyd Earnings, Overshadow Volume\u00c2\u00a0Gains"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Sinking freight rates<\/a> are making a dent in the top and bottom lines of another ocean carrier.<\/p>\n

Hapag-Lloyd<\/a> says its revenues declined 7.4 percent to $5 billion in the fourth quarter, weighing heavily on a 75 percent pre-tax earnings decline to approximately $200 million. The financial figures are preliminary.<\/p>\n

The dips come despite transported volumes increasing 6.5 percent in the period to 3.3 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs). The escalating volumes could not overcome a 16.2 percent decrease in average freight rate from the prior-year quarter to $1,310 per TEU.<\/p>\n

The decline in rates follows a more drastic<\/a> annual freight rate decline of 23 percent at Gemini Cooperation partner Maersk<\/a> to $2,046 per 40-foot container. Ocean Network Express (ONE)<\/a> saw a 25 percent decline in Asia-to-North America freight rates in its quarterly report released late last month.<\/p>\n

On an annual basis, ocean spot freight rates as of Thursday have declined 40 percent to $1,959 per 40-foot container, according to data from Drewry\u2019s World Container Index (WCI). But those numbers are even more pronounced out of Shanghai to both Los Angeles (53 percent to $2,239 per container) and New York (55 percent to $2,819 per box).<\/p>\n

Freight rates have fallen<\/a> since last year due to overcapacity of container vessels worldwide, alongside a volatile demand environment in 2025 in which tariffs forced many shippers to pull forward orders of goods<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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Related Stories <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

For the full year, Hapag-Lloyd says it will generate $21.1 billion in revenue, a 1.9 percent increase from the $20.7 billion it made in 2024. The group expects pre-tax earnings for 2025 to come in at $1.1 billion, down 60.6 percent from $2.8 billion a year prior.<\/p>\n

Full-year container volumes are set to increase 8 percent to 13.5 million TEUs, with the company shaking off the trade volatility upon introducing the Gemini vessel-sharing alliance last February.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe result was at the upper end of the earnings forecast and, as expected, below the prior-year level,\u201d said Hapag-Lloyd in a statement Tuesday. Higher costs due to the ongoing rerouting of ships<\/a> away from the Red Sea via the Cape of Good Hope and startup expenses for the Gemini network also weighed on the annual results.<\/p>\n

Hapag-Lloyd\u2019s tie-up with Maersk has at least been promising for its container volumes, as its 6.5 percent annual increase in the fourth quarter surpassed industry volumes of 4.6 percent, according to data from Container Trades Statistics (CTS).<\/p>\n

Maersk saw its own container volume growth of 8 percent in the quarter, but not every carrier has benefitted from the environment. ONE saw flat container volume growth to end its third quarter.<\/p>\n

Gemini-related cost savings started kicking in during the second half of 2025 and will be fully realized in 2026, Hapag says. One-time non-cash effects in the fourth quarter had a positive impact.<\/p>\n

Hapag-Lloyd will publish its 2025 annual report with the audited financial figures and an outlook for the current financial year on March 26.<\/p>\n

Hapag-Lloyd teams with WiseTech to track container data\t<\/h3>\n

The same day Hapag-Lloyd released the preliminary results, logistics software solution provider WiseTech Global<\/a> unveiled it was partnering with the ocean carrier to equip its 2 million containers<\/a> with Internet of Things (IoT) smart tracking devices.  <\/p>\n

According to the companies, the trial will integrate IoT technology for real-time global container visibility, tracking and data collection.<\/p>\n

This pilot tests the ability to ingest and process millions of data points daily, aiming to provide accurate, real-time insights on container positioning, transit conditions and arrival predictions. <\/p>\n

Hapag-Lloyd\u2019s customers will be able to detect anomalies such as deviations or delays that might impact a container\u2019s arrival at the next critical handover point, which can help improve their data-driven planning and execution.<\/p>\n

WiseTech can then distribute the location and positioning data to Hapag-Lloyd\u2019s customers via a range of channels such as the CargoWise Cargo Tracker and Container Automation solutions. More distribution channels are planned, the software company says.<\/p>\n

The IoT trackers will power Hapag Lloyd\u2019s Live ETA function, which provide dynamic arrival time calculations based on actual movement and location data collected via IoT pings from GPS tracking devices on the containers.<\/p>\n

For shipments where Hapag-Lloyd manages the entire journey from port to customer location, the carrier says the tool can improve delivery time accuracy by 75 percent compared to traditional static schedule predictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve invested in equipping our entire dry container fleet with IoT technology to provide better service and reliability to our customers,\u201d said Karsten Schmidt, director of Live Position at Hapag-Lloyd, in a statement. \u201cWorking with WiseTech, we can integrate the data from our smart containers into the systems our customers use every day, providing actionable predictive insights rather than just dots on a map. This partnership represents an important step toward a more transparent, resilient and digitally enabled global supply chain.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… 2 percent decrease in average freight<\/span> rate from the prior- … follows a more drastic annual freight<\/span> rate decline of 23 … in Asia-to-North America freight<\/span> rates in its quarterly … of channels such as the CargoWise Cargo<\/span> Tracker and Container Automation solutions …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84181\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}