Bunker Costs Down But Anemic Growth in 2014 for Hamburg Süd

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Tuesday May 5, 2015

Plunging bunker prices and other beneficial factors weren't enough to prevent disappointing growth for Hamburg Süd in 2014, the carrier reports.

Hamburg Süd reports that falling freight rates and a weak U.S. dollar caused total sales to fall by around 1 percent to EUR 5.2 billion ($5.79-billion).

Despite increasing its carryings 2.3 percent to 3.375 million TEU, total bunker costs for the firm's liner service were reduced by around 11 percent in 2014.

"In addition to the fuel prices which fell sharply from the fourth quarter of the year onwards, a further reduction in consumption through the deployment of more efficient ships and optimizations in operational flows contributed to this," the carrier said.

Hamburg Süd also noted that freight rates came under high pressure from repositioned medium-sized tonnage displaced from the Asia trades.

Looking ahead, Hamburg Süd anticipates that thanks to the "favourable trend in fuel prices and exchange rates" operating results for 2015 will be higher than last year.

However the bulk shipping market is likely to further deteriorate in 2015, it said, and while net fleet growth is forecast at around 5 percent, the company predicts that growth in volume of cargo won't match this figure "unless China's raw material imports increase substantially over the next few months."

Hamburg Süd in 2014 reported that the "only positive support" for its business the year prior came from fuel costs, which declined from their highest 2012 levels.

Ship & Bunker News Team
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