Reducing the price of the bunker, efficient ship management and cost containment have enabled containerized companies to deal with the crisis

In relation to last year, the analysis of the Centre for Fedespedi points out that, after a 2018 with clear-toed results and 2019 was a positive year overall with good levels of operating profitability (ROS), with the exception of the HMM and Yang Ming companies. The report bank debt, the analysis notes, is for some company, with total financial debts (banks, leasing, etc.) significantly higher than equity. In addition, companies in the sector had on average a "cash" high, although not always adequate to the volume of liabilities short-term, and levels of operating profitability (debts short-term financial statements and M-L/EBITDA) did not always seem in line with financial commitments, in some cases placing very high values (e.g. for Evergreen, COSCO, Yang Ming, etc.).

As for the performance in the first half of 2020, the analysis Federation of Italian Shippers notes that "if 2019 can be judged a year in the whole positive for shipping, the same thing can't be said of course for the current year. The international crisis induced from the Covid-19 - it is pointed out - has reflected in fact heavily on the volumes transported, which in the January-June period overall decline of -6.8%.' The Centre Fedespedi studies explain that "the great international carriers have addressed the severe economic crisis that is taking place by acting above all, through blank sailing, on the leverage of the supply of Hold. Paramedicing the hold offer with great accuracy, with The trend in transport demand - it is clear - are managed to maintain a satisfactory level of the noli. In fact despite the sharp reduction in the transport, after the decline in early months, the walnuts rose decisively, recovering, if not exceeding pre-pandemic values."

"The strategy put in place by the carriers - concludes analysis - was substantiated in the positive performance of the fiscal results for the first half of this year, despite the sharp decline in the volume transported. Factors most have affected are: the reduction in the cost of the bunker (at least in the first part of the year), more efficient ship and, more generally, a large attention to cost containment; positive performance of the even with respect to fuel trends. As pointed out Hapag Lloyd's half-yearly: "despite a declining transport volume, EBITDA increased ... due to the general time lag in passing on bunker costs, the ratio between freight rates and bunker prices was temporarily favourable in the second quarter, in contrast to the previous quarter"; for some companies (e.g. Maersk, CMA-CGM) the results are also the consequence of reorganization of the companies themselves and their models of business.'