Hapag-Lloyd reducing share of heavy containers

Growing imbalances in the Europe-Far East Trade are resulting in an increasing number of empty containers to be redelivered to the Asian markets, which is a substantial cost factor for all shipping lines.

Hapag-Lloyd has thus decided to limit the transport of heavy containers on this route. The capacity thereby released is to be used for the return of empty boxes to Asia. The positive side effect is that the TEU utilisation of the vessels can be optimized, there is more operational flexibility and the bunker savings are overcompensating the contribution of heavy containers. Hapag-Lloyd plans to retain this strategy until market conditions are improving.