FRANKFURT, March 14 Reuters German container shipper HapagLloyd on Thursday posted a net profit of 3.0 billion euros 3.28 billion for 2023, down 83 from a year earlier, and cut its dividend by 85 in what it called a challenging market environment.

We achieved the thirdbest Group profit in the history of our company even if it is significantly lower than it was in the exceptionally strong year 2022 due to the normalisation of global supply chains, said Chief Executive Rolf Habben Jansen.

We … expect to see an overall decrease in earnings in 2024, he said, citing the crisis in the Red Sea, where commercial shippers have been skipping the Suez Cana after Yemenbased Houthi militants began attacking ships.

HapagLloyd, the world39;s fifthbiggest container liner, had benefited from soaring prices in 2022 as global trade faced hiccups during its recovery from the coronavirus crisis, but a return to more secure logistics has cut freights sharply.

The dividend proposal will be 9.25 euros per share, down from 63 euros previously.

The company forecast 2024 earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation EBITDA in a range of 1.0 billion to 3.0 billion euros, compared with 4.4 billion euros achieved in 2023, when it was down by 76.8.

Earnings before interest and taxes EBIT this year will likely be between minus 1.0 billion to 1.0 billion euros, it said.

This will follow a 2.5 billion euros EBIT in 2023, already only a fraction of 202239;s 17.5 billion….