Hapag-Lloyd Bears Heavy Burden of the Deutsche Mark

Strong Deutsche Mark levels against the dollar depressed earnings in 1995 at Hapag-Lloyd, Germany’s largest shipping company, although the directors announced a profit of DM65 million ($98.8 million). Bernd Wrede, chairman of the company’s executive board, and Guether Casjens, director for liner shipping, told Marine Money in London that the business lost about DM90 million as the Deutsche Mark started its sharp decline in the second quarter last year.

From a level of 1.65 to the dollar, the Deutsche Mark fell to 1.40 within the space of some four to six weeks. It has now rallied to about 1.52 at the time of writing. “This has a very powerful effect on a company such as Hapag-Lloyd, when preparing its results in Deutsche Mark,” explained Mr. Wrede. “Quite obviously, we have had some quite negative consequences – our better operating performance was set against this currency handicap.”

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