West Coast not to Hamper Hapag-Lloyd's Financials
The disruptions at West Coast ports in the U.S. caused by a labor dispute won’t do much harm to the financial results of the Germany’s biggest container shipping line Hapag-Lloyd AG, reports Bloomberg.
Hapag-Lloyd isn’t seeing massive declines in a way that it is jeopardizing our results. It is particularly dramatic for manufacturers, whose goods need to reach a destination at a fixed date, said company spokesman Nils Haupt.
The backlog on Hapag-Lloyd’s most important trade route across the Pacific could adversely affect retailers shipping seasonal goods and manufacturers. According to the Port of Oakland and the National Retail Federation the cargo backlog from ships waiting offshore may take six to eight weeks to clear after dockworkers resolved the nine-month dispute on Friday.
Last week Hapag-Lloyd announced it will steer clear of West Coast ports, cancelling most trips for the next three months. It had also cancelled most sailings from Asia to the US west coast for the next three months, underlining the impact of a labour dispute that one analyst estimates reduced US GDP by $40 billion in December.
Hapag-Lloyd generated revenue of 1.6 billion euros ($ 1.8 billion) from Transpacific trade in 2013, making it the company’s most important shipping area, followed by the Atlantic, Latin America and Far East.
