Revenue was EUR 3.21bn — EUR 144m lower than a year ago — due to the poor freight rate development and the much weaker US dollar.

The German liner operator managed to trim its transport expenses by EUR 79m to EUR 2.9bn despite volumes increasing by 5.6% to 2.9 million teu.

“The average freight rate developed negatively as a result of persistently tough competition across the market,” Hapag-Lloyd said.

“After