German container carrier Hapag-Lloyd doesn’t plan to make any investments in ordering of new vessels over the next couple of years, the company said during a conference call today.
“In terms of Capexes, we said that we don’t anticipate any material Capexes in new vessels in the upcoming couple of years. We will continue to invest in container boxes and our investment level will be around EUR 400 million every year ,” the company said.
As disclosed, there have been no significant orders in the container shipping sector over the recent period, and Hapag-Lloyd believes that new orders are not necessary as there is sufficient capacity in the market to meet the volume growth.
As a result, it is not expected that a surge in orders would occur.
Regarding the IMO regulations, Hapag said that most of its vessels are in principle suited for various types of fuel and may require some additional investment. Tough, huge investments on a per vessel basis are not expected.
The company added that it would be watching very closely what would happen to the fuel prices after 2020 when the new regulations kick in. The costs are anticipated to go up, but the company said it should be able to pass them on to the customers.
For the first half of 2017, the German container carrier booked a net loss of EUR -46.1 million (USD 55.1 million, slashed from last year’s equivalent of EUR 142.1 million.
The company said that the half-year result includes a number of one-off effects related to the United Arab Shipping Company (UASC) merger , resulting in a net impact on EBIT of approximately EUR -19 million.
Hapag-Lloyd’s results were announced as the carrier welcomes the fourth of its five Valparaiso Express class 10,500 TEU vessels, the Callao Express.
The ship, built by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, has been named in the port of Callao this week. The Callao Express has set sail in the direction of Puerto Anamos and Valparaiso and will return to Europe after sailing the South American west coast, the company said.
World Maritime News Staff