Winter Weather, West US Port Labour Talks Are Wild Cards in Shipping: Hapag Lloyd

Shipping containers are unloaded from ships at a container terminal at the Port of Long Beach-Port of Los Angeles complex in Los Angeles, Calif., on April 7, 2021. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

FRANKFURT—The shipping industry may face unexpected risks from labour negotiations in western U.S. ports and winter weather in the northern hemisphere over the next few months, the head of German container firm Hapag-Lloyd said on Thursday.

“Winter can have a significant impact on shipping,” Chief Executive Rolf Habben Jansen said in an online call with reporters, adding the weather conditions looked normal so far.

“The other thing is the labour negotiations on the U.S. west coast, where it is in everyone’s interest to reach an agreement reasonably fast,” he added.

Last week, the company reported a more than 10-fold increase in its nine-month net profit.