* Bunker prices fell 5.4% in Jan-Sept, cutting costs
* Operators earn higher rates as ship supply is tight
* Demand outlook firm for Q4
* Coronavirus creates uncertainty going into 2021
FRANKFURT, Nov 13 (Reuters) - German container liner
Hapag-Lloyd AG is confident of achieving higher
earnings in 2020 as lower fuel prices cut shipping costs, demand
in Asia recovers and fleet capacity is tight, chief executive
Rolf Habben Jansen said on Friday.
"Oil prices have fallen sharply in the coronavirus crisis,
that has given us tailwind, especially in the weak second
quarter," said the head of the world's fifth biggest shipping
firm in an interview with Reuters.
"Volumes have bounced back unexpectedly strongly in the
third quarter and that will remain the case in the coming
months," he added.
A drop in bunker - shipping fuel - prices by 5.4% to $402
per tonne helped cut operating costs in the first nine-months of
2020, when Hapag-Lloyd posted a 81.1% surge in net
profit.
Net profit was 538 million euros ($635 million) in the
period, compared with 297 million a year earlier.
The company stuck to guidance for full-year earnings before
interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), which it
raised to 2.4-2.6 billion euros last month, and earnings before
interest and tax (EBIT) of 1.1-1.3 billion.
Nine-month EBITDA increased 20.4% to 1.8 billion euros and
EBIT was up 33.4% at 858 million euros.
Higher freights rates helped profitability, rising 2% to
$1,097 per twenty foot equivalent unit (TEU) in the nine months.
This trend partly results from tight supply.
The world's idle fleet numerically represents 1.8% of total
tonnage but in practice is "virtually zero," Habben Jansen said.
Despite favourable profit numbers and strict cost
management, he warned of demand falls further ahead as fallout
from the pandemic will leave a lasting imprint on the global
economy.
"There is bound to be some sort of a weaker period in 2021
but we don't know how big the dent will be," he said.
($1 = 0.8470 euros)
(Reporting by Vera Eckert; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Mark
Potter)