Germany liner operator Hapag-Lloyd is forecasting a more than threefold increase in earnings this year. The Hamburg-based liner operator has raised its earnings outlook with Ebitda forecast to be in the range of €7.6bn to €9.3bn ($9.2bn to $11.2bn) this year. That compares with around €2.7bn in 2020 and €1.9 in 2019.

The carrier said that global demand for container transport remains at a high level. However, operational disruptions continued to cause significant delays and to contribute to a shortage of transport capacity. That has resulted in record freight rates on trades from Asia to Europe and the United States. “We also benefitted from better freight rates in the second quarter and are looking at a very strong first half-year overall,” said chief executive Rolf Habben Jansen.

“At the same time, since we firmly expect this momentum to carry over into the second half of the year, we have raised our earnings forecast for 2021 as a whole.”

“We will continue to work tirelessly to reduce the impact of supply chain bottlenecks for our customers and to deliver a better service quality,” he said.

Earlier this year, Hapag-Lloyd had expected “a gradual normalization” of liner shipping markets in the second half of the year. As recently as May, analysts had forecast a full-year Ebitda of €5.4bn, up from €2.7bn in 2020. Those estimates are proving too conservative, and Hapag-Lloyd expects Ebitda of approximately €3.5bn in the first half of the year. That compares with around €1.2bn in the same period last year. Ebit is expected to be roughly €2.9bn, compared to approximately €500m in the first half of 2020.

For the full year, Ebit is expected to grow to the range of €6.2bn to €7.9bn, up from €1.3m 2020 and €811m in 2019. Liner shipping companies are benefitting from record high freight rates. Rates from Asia to the US West Coast rose to $18,345 per 40-ftoo equivalent unit (feu), around six times higher than the same time last year. according to the Freightos Baltic Index (FBX).

Rates from Asia to US East Coast are $19,620 per feu, which is around five times higher than last July.