Zim Integrated Shipping Services missed Wall Street consensus while reporting a worse-than-expected loss for this year’s second quarter as a result of a weak container market.
The New York-listed, Israel-based liner operator posted a net loss of $213m for the second quarter, falling well short of $1.34bn in net income recorded during the same period in 2022.
As a result, Zim registered a $1.79 loss per share that missed analyst estimates by $0.91 and did not even come close to $25.26 earnings per share achieved a year earlier.
Revenue came in at $1.31bn for the quarter, down from $3.43bn in revenue collected in the same three-month period last year.
The much lower results were directly due to a much weaker container market in which Zim maintained an average freight rate of $1,193 teu during the quarter which is less than a third of the average freight rate sustained a year ago.
The Freightos Baltic Index, which serves as a market barometer, fell 29.3% over the second quarter of 2022 to 6,583 points, but that is still much higher than the 9.9% fall to 1,270 points that it occurred during this year’s same quarter.
The company carried 860,000 teu in container volume for the quarter, up from 856,000 teu transported during last year’s second quarter.
“We continue to take proactive steps to respond to current market realities, with a focus on minimizing costs while optimising our commercial strategy,” chief executive Eli Glickman said in a statement.
“We have taken action to rationalise our existing capacity and routinely review our services to adapt our network to customer preferences and identify new commercial opportunities.”
Despite the lower earnings, Zim expects its $3.2bn cash position will allow it to “maintain a position of strength” in a prolonged weak market, he said.
For the first half of 2023, Zim posted a net loss of $271m, down from $3.05bn in net profit for the first six months of 2022.
Revenue totalled $2.86bn for the first half of 2023, down from $4.63bn in revenue collected during the first half of 2022.
