On November 13, Hapag-Lloyd announced its third-quarter results. The report showed that in the third quarter of 2025, the company’s revenue was USD 5.43 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 11.3%; EBITDA was USD 860 million, a year-on-year decrease of 50.4%; net profit was only USD 160 million, a significant year-on-year decrease of 85.5%. EBIT contracted sharply to USD 220 million, a year-on-year decrease of 80.4%.
In the first three quarters of 2025, the Hapag-Lloyd Group achieved revenue of USD 16.05 billion, a year-on-year increase of 2.1%; however, net profit was USD 950 million, a year-on-year decrease of 49.9%. The average freight rate per TEU was USD 1,/TEU, a year-on-year decrease of 4.8%.
Hapag-Lloyd attributed the performance decline to multiple factors: significantly increased operating costs, fluctuations in freight rates, demand volatility caused by new US tariff policies, operational disruptions at major seaports, and the persistently tense security situation in the Red Sea.
However, it is worth noting that despite the challenges, Hapag-Lloyd’s transport volumes maintained growth. The third-quarter transport volume reached 3.425 million TEU, and the cumulative volume for the first nine months reached 10.17 million TEU, a year-on-year increase of 9.1%, reflecting the resilience of demand. Meanwhile, benefiting from the acquisition of the French terminal, the revenue of Hapag-Lloyd’s terminal and infrastructure business segment in the first nine months grew to USD 375 million. However, the EBITDA was USD 110 million, and EBIT was USD 46 million, both slightly lower than the levels of the same period last year.
Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen stated, “The first three quarters were characterized by high market volatility, partly caused by geopolitical and trade policy uncertainties. Against the backdrop of strong customer demand, Hapag-Lloyd achieved strong growth in container volumes and delivered a solid overall performance. ‘Gemini’ has set a new industry benchmark for schedule reliability, which clearly differentiates us from our competitors. Furthermore, we have further expanded our terminal business. Looking ahead, Hapag-Lloyd will flexibly respond to changes in global trade and strictly control costs.”
Given the uncertainty in the market environment, Hapag-Lloyd has revised down its full-year 2025 earnings forecast, expecting EBITDA to be between USD 3.1 billion and USD 3.6 billion. The company also announced that, as part of the ongoing fleet modernization and decarbonization plan, it will invest in building up to 22 new ships with a capacity of less than 5,000 TEU.
