Two recent articles at the Journal of Commerce reported that second quarter profits plunged 75% at Matson and 87% at Hapag-Lloyd.
Higher fuel costs and weak trans-Pacific results caused Matson Navigation’s second quarter operating profit to fall 75 percent to $9.4 million from $37 million a year ago.
The Alexander & Baldwin subsidiary said it its discontinuing its CLX2 express service between China and Long Beach but will retain its CLX1 route, a five-year-old China-U.S. service that carries domestic cargo westbound from the U.S. mainland to Hawaii and Guam.
Regarding Hapag-Lloyd on August 11:
Hapag-Lloyd’s second quarter profit tumbled to 26 million euros ($37 million) from $294 million in the second quarter of 2010 as declining rates and higher fuel costs offset a 3.3 percent increase in container volume.
Hapag-Lloyd said it expects continued growth for container shipping in the medium to long term but “short-term results will be influenced by high crude oil prices and pressure on freight rates as a result of tougher competition, particularly in the Asia-related trades.”