The San Francisco Express is one of 115 Hapag-Lloyd container ships
Hapag-Lloyd’s financial position is improving on the back of stable ocean freight rates and a successful cost-cutting program, the troubled German ocean carrier’s largest individual shareholder said. Hapag-Lloyd, which recently received a $1.3 billion capital injection from its shareholders and $1.8 billion of state loan guarantees, has successfully implemented a cost-cutting program worth around $1.1 billion a year, TUI said. The world’s fifth largest ocean carrier booked an operating loss of $662 million in the first half of 2009 against a $190 million loss in the year-earlier period.