Hapag-Lloyd CEO Jansen: “Unsatisfactory results for us: now we focus on Strategy 2030 and the next steps of the merger with Zim”
Hamburg – The difficult weather conditions recorded between Europe and North America, combined with geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, have strongly impacted Hapag-Lloyd’s first quarter of 2026. The German shipping group closed the first three months of the year with results defined as “unsatisfactory”, penalized by the decline in freight rates and numerous operational disruptions along global supply chains. Between January and March, EBITDA stood at 494 million dollars, while EBIT fell into negative territory at -157 million dollars. The net loss reached 256 million dollars, highlighting a clear worsening compared to the same period in 2025.
“The first quarter of 2026 was unsatisfactory for us: supply chain disruptions caused by bad weather and pressure on freight rates led to significantly lower results. At the same time, our Gemini network demonstrated resilience even in difficult conditions, helping us maintain reliable service for customers. We will continue to focus on Strategy 2030 and the next steps of the merger with Zim, maintaining rigorous cost management in a still very volatile market,” said Rolf Habben Jansen, Chief Executive Officer of Hapag-Lloyd.
In the liner shipping sector, revenues decreased to 4.8 billion dollars mainly due to the reduction in the average freight rate, which fell to 1,330 dollars per teu compared to 1,471 dollars in the previous year. Transported volumes remained substantially stable at 3.2 million teu, but operations suffered significant slowdowns due to snow, frost and infrastructure problems that affected terminals and logistics connections in Europe and North America.
Further weighing on traffic was also the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which caused discontinuities in maritime flows and greater market volatility.
Better results came from the Terminal & Infrastructure division, which increased revenues to 168 million dollars thanks to the consolidation of J M Baxi’s container activities and volume growth in India and Latin America. The segment’s EBIT was 18 million dollars.
For the full year 2026, Hapag-Lloyd maintains a cautious forecast, estimating EBITDA between 1.1 and 3.1 billion dollars and EBIT between -1.5 and 0.5 billion dollars, in a context that remains highly uncertain due to the volatility of freight rates and international geopolitical tensions.
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