Hapag-Lloyd’s Jansen is still hopeful about 2026

Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO, Hapag Lloyd AG and Stuart Sandlin, Managing Director Region North America, Hapag Lloyd AG told a media presentation at the Trans Pacific Maritime Conference (TPM 2026) that 2026 was a promising year until war broke out with Iran.

Start to 2026 “Difficult”

Jansen told the media briefing, I think … the beginning of 2026 was actually quite difficult. Mainly because of the weather. The weather was very, very difficult — especially around Europe in the first two or three weeks … We had quite a lot of ships that needed to be rerouted … I think that had an impact also globally on volumes that we carried…by our industry at least we saw that recover actually quite well. I think we’ve seen actually good demand from week four.

He added, “we also had a run up to the Chinese Year. I would say that this year was a little stronger than the last year. Even if it saw rates or spot trades to come down quite early on. The recovery after Chinese New Year, so far, actually looks… quite good and … seems to be a little quicker than last year, which is not something we expected.”

Zim Merger

On the subject of the Hapag-Lloyd proposed merger with Zim Line, Jansen said the company, “signed the merger agreement with Zim… that is of course subject to all the normal approvals we need to get… which requires that the Israeli government approves that as well. We feel that this will take several months and we hope that…we will be able to conclude that transaction towards the end of 2026.”

Iran War

Jansen said the company is still evaluating the impact that the Iran War is having on service: “I think that causes a lot of disruption to the industry. …you will have seen, everyone has ships stuck in the Gulf …. Our first priority is to ensure…that our crew and ships remain safe. And the situation remains very fluid … The good news is that so far, the impact on operations outside the region is very, very, limited. And that means we’ll be able to keep the rest of our network going as normal.” Nonetheless, Jansen estimates that 50,000 Hapag-Lloyd containers are currently stranded by the conflict.

One big question is what the impact to shipping with the war should it expand from the Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz to the Eastern Mediterranean.

On Monday (March 2, 2026), two drones heading for a British Royal Air Force base in Akrotiri, Cyprus, were intercepted, a Cypriot government spokesmen said. The interception comes after a drone hit the base overnight on Sunday with no casualties and “minimal damage” according to a report.