The second quarter financial reporting season is in full swing and container lines results rather than being the expected bloodbath with statements full of red ink are in general actually more profitable than they were a year ago.
The Covid-19 pandemic has pummelled world trade, especially in the second quarter as large swathes of the globe went into lockdown, the result of which would be expected disaster for consumer dependent container lines that struggle to make money even when times are good. The warnings of a “Hanjin 2.0” were all too clear.
But the Q2 figures published by listed container lines reveal a very different story, yes volumes and to a lesser extent revenues are down, but profitability is up.