Shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd recorded a 18.9% y-o-y drop in net income to EUR 2.4 bn (c. USD 2.6 bn) for FY 2024, which the firm attributed to lower net interest income and steeper tax levies, according to a financial report (pdf) published on Thursday. The firm’s revenues climbed 6.6% y-o-y to EUR 19.1 bn (c. USD 20.7 bn) on the back of improved demand for in its liner shipping and terminal and infrastructure segments.

Operational expansion: The firm raised its transport volume by 4.7% y-o-y to 12.5 mn TEUs despite incurring elevated transport costs owing to the rerouting of liners from the Red Sea to South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope. The company’s terminal and infrastructure segment saw improved earnings growth on the back of its acquisitions spree in FY 2023.

What’s next? Hapag-Lloyd’s outlook for 2025 is characterized by high uncertainty on the back of seismic geopolitical changes and fluctuating freight rates, the company said. The company says it will not resume Red Sea shipments until security concerns abate, whereas the fate of global tariffs — a major factor for the year’s financial performance — remains unpredictable.

China will invest USD 1.4 bn to upgrade the decades-old Tanzania-Zambia railway, the railway operator’s Managing Director Bruno Ching’andu told Bloomberg on Thursday. China Civil Engineering Construction Company is in talks to clinch a 30-year concession for the project — which is a Mao-era line that links Zambian copper mines to Tanzania's largest port.

REMEMBER- China, Zambia, and Tanzania inked an initial agreement last year to revitalize the so-called Tazara railway, which extends over 1.8 km and aims to enhance rail-sea transportation in East Africa.

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