Hapag-Lloyd CEO optimistic about freight rates

The CEO of shipping line Hapag-Lloyd has said that the company expects to see a moderate recovery on freight rates in the upcoming two quarters of 2016.

The company, which recorded in 2015 its first net annual profit since 2010 following cost-cutting measures and its merger with the container business of Chilean shipping company Compañía Sud Americana de Vapores (CSAV), expects however that freight rates will still be moderately decreasing in 2016.

The CEO Rolf Habben Jansen explained during a conference call presenting the company’s 2015 results: “We do expect that the freight rates for 2016 will be below the ones that we have seen on average in 2015. That however does not mean that we expect it to stay at the level which is in the first quarter, which is below the average.”