Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd will ditch Suez Canal until the end of 2024

Good afternoon, wonderful people. We have another brisk news day here at home as we are inching closer to the weekend.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

Hapag-Lloyd’s ships will avoid sailing through the Red Sea through 2024: German shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd will continue to steer its container ships away from the Red Sea shipping corridor through the end of 2024, instead opting to send its vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, CEO Rolf Habben Jansen told Reuters.

Bad news for our Suez Canal revenues: The shipping company is one among a number of firms that began rerouting their ships away from the Red Sea last autumn in light of ongoing attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on shipping traffic. Disruptions in the Red Sea have hit Suez Canal revenue — a major source of FX — hard, with Suez Canal Authority head Osama Rabie noting in July that revenues from the canal had fallen some 23% y-o-y during FY 2023-2024 to USD 7.2 bn.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the largest in the world, reported net income of USD 138 bn in H1 2024 thanks to AI. CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management Nicolai Tangen attributed their 8.6% return to the “increased demand for new solutions in artificial intelligence.” Other investments, namely in renewable energy infrastructure, incurred major losses, resulting in an overall dock of 0.04 percentage points on the country’s benchmark index. Tangen also shared his negative outlook on the future of global stocks due to ongoing geopolitical situations, but did not indicate whether the fund will be divesting from any of the 8.7k companies they have invested in across 70 countries. (CNBC)

** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:

• Africa’s first carbon market has landed: Egypt launched yesterday its voluntary carbon trading market — the first in the country and in Africa.
• A whole lotta earnings: Yesterday saw a fresh batch of 1H earnings published — we have earnings from Talaat Moustafa Group Holding, Contact Financial, and Fawry.
• A big wheat buy in our future? State grain buyer GASC is in discussions over directly purchasing up to 1.8 mn tons of wheat from international suppliers.

☀️TOMORROW’S WEATHER- The mercury is peaking at a high of 38°C before simmering to a moderate low of 26°C by nightfall, according to our favorite weather app. Sahel and Alexandria are seeing cooler weather, with a high of 32-33°C and a low of 24-27°C.