ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Q1 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
May 19, 2025

There are 8 speakers on the call.

Operator

Thank you for standing by. My name is Kate, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the ZIM Integrated Shipping Services First Quarter twenty twenty five Financial Results Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session.

Operator

Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Elena Holzman, Head of Investor Relations. Relations. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator, and welcome to ZIM's First Quarter twenty twenty five Financial Results Conference Call. Joining me on the call today are Eli Glickman, ZIM's President and CEO and Xavier Deslio, ZIM's CFO. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that during the course of this call, we will make forward looking statements regarding expectations, predictions, projections or future events or results. We believe that our expectations and assumptions are reasonable. We wish to caution you that such statements reflect only the company's current expectations and that current events or results may differ, including materially.

Speaker 1

You are kindly referred to consider the risk factors and cautionary language described in the documents the company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our 2024 Annual Report on Form 20 F filed with the SEC on March 12. We undertake no obligation to update these forward looking statements. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to ZIM's CEO, Eli Glickman. Eli?

Speaker 2

Moment to address the market environment. In recent weeks, it is it has become even clearer that we operate in a highly dynamic industry with a range of diverse external factors affecting both supply and demand in both the short and longer term. After two months of depressed Transpacific volumes, last week, The United States and China announced a ninety day suspension on mutual tariffs, enabling a reversal of the trend in cargo movement between the two countries. Overall, we view this development as positive. However, in the absence of a long absence of a longer term agreement, we remain cautious in term terms of our expectation for Trans Pacific trade during the remainder of the 2025.

Speaker 2

It remains too early to determine whether the surge in the demand we have seen in the last few days represents a return to normalize US China volumes moving forward. Additionally, the updated USTR rule introducing short port fees on Chinese bill and on vessels has added another level of uncertainty. We are actively exploring a mitigation plan and assessing the financial impact of the proposed action. As we look ahead, we saw a core focus on continuing to navigate the highly uncertain geopolitical and macroeconomic conditions. We are confident in our agile approach and competitive position in the industry.

Speaker 2

Turning now to our financial results. Following an exceptional 2024, both financially and operationally, we began 2025 with a strong first quarter performance, consistent with our expectations. Upscaling our fleet employing larger vessel that have improved improved our cost structure, coupled with strong underlying demand, once again drove double digit carried volume growth year over year and enhanced profitability. Slide number four. We generated revenue of $2,000,000,000 and net income of $296,000,000 in the first quarter, representing year over year increases of 28222% respectively.

Speaker 2

Q1 adjusted EBITDA was $779,000,000 and adjusted EBIT was $463,000,000 with adjusted EBITDA margin of 39% and adjusted EBIT margin of 23%. We maintained total liquidity of $3,400,000,000 as of March 31, which at quarter end included $382,000,000 paid in early April as a final dividend on account of $20.24 results. Slide number five. We remain committed to return capital to shareholders. Per our dividend policy to distribute 30% of quarterly net income, our Board of Directors has declared a dividend of $0.74 per share for a total of $89,000,000 based on Q1 results.

Speaker 2

Despite the considerable uncertainty, we are maintaining our full year guidance ranges. To remind you, we anticipate adjusted EBITDA between $1,600,000,000 to $2,200,000,000 and adjust EBIT between c $350,000,000 and $950,000,000, with better performance still expected in the first half of the year versus the second half. Xavier, our CFO, will provide additional context and our underlying assumptions for our 25 guidance later on the call. Slide number six. Against the backdrop of the uncertainties I mentioned that I mentioned before, planning is internally difficult, but we remain committed to a proactive approach.

Speaker 2

We continue to take take steps in line with our strategic objectives that further enhancing business resilience, both commercially and operationally, and competitive position in the industry. Over the past several weeks, we've adjusted our network, underscoring the agile nature nature of our commercial strategy. Our actions are a response primarily to changes in the Transpacific demand as evolving US tariff policy impacts global trade. Initially, in coordination with our partner, we modified our service rotations to mitigate the impact of the drop in export from China to The United States while ensuring we we maintain extensive port coverage to uphold our service commitment. In light of last week's development, we are again realigning our network to account for a return back to more normalized China US trade relations.

Speaker 2

Similarly similarly, we have also reversed our initial decision to suspend our Zim Central China Express line, zed x two service, illustrating again our agility to react rapidly to changing market conditions. In terms of other demand trends in the region, during this period, we've seen improved volumes from other Southeast Asian markets such as Vietnam and Thailand, where we have a strong foothold. In recent years, we have expanded our positions throughout Southeast Asia to benefit from the growth in manufacturing in the region and to diversify our business. This strategic positioning helps ZIM capture volume to partially compensate for the decline in Chinese cargo to The US during the beginning of the second quarter. We are adopting a similar strategy in Latin America to to diversify our operation and increase our business resilience.

Speaker 2

We are strengthening our presence in the region to take advantage of the anticipated growth in trade between Latin America and The United States as well as China and the region. Overall, the primary point to highlight in that ZIM has long recognized the importance of taking nimble approach to fleet deployment. Identifying new growth opportunities and leveraging our commercial agility have been continue to be a core strength for ZYN. We continue to maintain flexibility at all times to reshuffle vessel capacity based on demand. We expect to continue to react in changing market conditions as dynamically as possible.

Speaker 2

Our commercial success and improved profitability have been made possible by our transformed fleet. After receiving all 46 new builds we contracted in '21 and 2022, which significantly improved the efficiency of our operated capacity, we entered the new year deploying larger, modern vessel well suited to the trade in which we operate. After growing our credit capacity for two years, we have we have regained optionality optionality, which allows us to adapt zinc capacity as market condition change or our commercial strategy shifts. Moving forward, our goal has been to maintain and further enhance our competitive position while capitalizing on attractive opportunities that will ensure our fleet remains modern and cost effective. Consistent with long with this long term approach, we recently secured twelve year charter for ten eleven thousand five hundred TEU new build LNG dual fuel container ships from an affiliate of the TMS Group.

Speaker 2

This charter agreement will ensure access to an important and versatile vessel segment that is generally unavailable in the charter market and ideally suited for several of our global trades, in enhancing our commercial agility and advancing our growth strategy. This also represents a strategic investment in our core LNG capacity, which serve as a critical commercial differentiator for ZIM. As we expect, it will be commercially valuable with the growing demand from customers for eco friendly shipping solutions. This vessel will also support our long term decarbonization objectives. ZIM was an early adopter of LNG technology, which has helped us achieve significant milestones in our ESG journeys.

Speaker 2

As we highlight in our 24 ESG report, which we plan to publish shortly, we reduced our carbon intensity by 16% in 2024 compared to 2023. Moreover, in 2024, we suspense our '25 target of a 30% reduction versus the '21 baseline, reaching a 35% decrease. We remain committed to ESG as a core value and, in this report, our seventh, we detailed ZIM decarbonization roadmap toward net zero by 02/1950 together with a comprehensive overview of our ESG initiatives, achievement, programs, and updated targets. Overall, we remain confident in our strategy and competitive position in the industry. We enter 2025 with a transformed fleet of cost and fuel efficient capacity, approximately 40% of which is LNG powered today, and are pleased to have taken steps to advance our fleet strategy for the future.

Speaker 2

Our nimble commercial approach, together with the prudent investment in our fleet, equipment, and technology, continue to drive resilience in ZIM's business. On this note, I will turn the call over to Xavier, our CFO, for a more detailed discussion of our financial results, 2025 guidance, as well as additional comments on the market environment. Xavier, please go ahead.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Eli. And again, on my behalf, welcome to everyone. On the slide seven, we present our key financial and operational highlights. Our strong q one results reflect our success upscaling our fleet, supported by positive underlying demand trends. ZIM generated in q one revenue of $2,000,000,000 a 28% increase compared to last year.

Speaker 3

During the quarter, our average freight rate per TEU was $1,776, a 22% increase year over year. Though 6% lower than the q four average freight rate of $1,886. Total revenues from non containerized cargo, which reflects mostly our car carrier services, totaled $114,000,000 for the quarter compared to $111,000,000 in the first quarter of twenty twenty four. To remind you, since November 2024, we have been operating 15 car carrier vessels. Our free cash flow in the first quarter totaled $787,000,000 compared to $3.00 3,000,000 in the February.

Speaker 3

Turning to the balance sheet, total debt decreased by $150,000,000 since prior year end. Throughout 2023 and 2024, our total debt increased mainly due to the net effect of receiving the new build capacity, namely larger vessels with longer term charter durations attached. This trend is now reversing as repayment of lease liabilities is higher than new liabilities being incurred. Next, the following slide provides an overview of our operative capacity. Eli had already discussed certain aspects of our fleet strategy, and I would like to highlight a few more data points that we believe are important to underscore when thinking about team's fleet.

Speaker 3

ZIM currently operates 26 container ships with a total capacity of approximately 774,000 TUs. Around two third of this capacity comes from the 46 new build received during the last two years two thousand twenty three and twenty four, which carry charter duration from five to twelve years and also another 16 vessels that are owned by ZIM. To remind you, we opted to secure our newbuild capacity on long duration contracts rather than continue to rely on the short term charter market and that to ensure that we have secure access to fuel efficient and cost competitive tonnage. We view this our core capacity, and as such, maintaining flexibility with respect to this capacity is a secondary factor. 25 of the 28 LNG vessels carry a charter period of twelve years, creating a predictability in our cost structure.

Speaker 3

Moreover, we hold options to extend the charter period for these vessels as well as purchase option, giving us full control over the destiny of these vessels very much as if we were the vessel owners. We had a similar agreement for the ten, eleven thousand five hundred TEU dual fuel LNG vessels we recently committed to with a charter period of twelve years and options to purchase the vessels at the end of the charter period. The remaining one third of the capacity that we operate, approximately 260,000 TEUs, allows us to maintain important flexibility. By the end of 02/1926, there will be a total of 44 vessels up for charter renewal, with 22 vessels or 81,000 TEUs up for renewal in 02/2025 and another 22 vessels are seventy seventy four thousand TEUs in 02/1926. This optionality to keep the capacity or we deliver to owners allows them to adjust its capacity according to changing market conditions or shifts in our commercial strategy.

Speaker 3

Longer term, our focus is to ensure that we maintain and continue to enhance the competitive position of our fleet. Now turning to additional q one financial metrics, here on slide nine. Adjusted EBITDA in the quarter was $779,000,000 or 39% EBITDA margin compared to $427,000,000 in q one two thousand and twenty four. Adjusted EBIT was $463,000,000 or 23% margin compared to adjusted EBIT of hundred and 67,000,000 in the same quarter of last year. Net income for the first quarter was $296,000,000 compared to $92,000,000 in q one two thousand and twenty four.

Speaker 3

Next, you will see that we carried 944,000 TEUs in the first quarter compared to 846,000 TEUs during the same period last year. That represents an increase of 12%, well ahead of market growth of 4.5%. Our Transpacific volume grew 11% in q one. It is important to reiterate that we maintain flexibility to reshuffle vessel capacity as the market evolves, driving resilience in our business. Notably, we achieved a 22% year over year volume growth in Latin America in this first quarter, and we anticipate further increasing our market share in this trade as we continue to strengthen our presence in the region.

Speaker 3

Next year, we present our cash flow bridge. For the quarter, our adjusted EBITDA of $779,000,000 converted into $855,000,000 of cash flow generated from operating activities. Other cash flow items for the quarter included 582,000,000 of debt service, mostly related to our lease liability repayments. Debt service in q one cash flow includes $72,000,000 reflecting repayment of lease liabilities related to the two secondhand 8,500 TEU vessels we acquired in the quarter as well as the down payment for the last remaining LNG vessel that we received in January. Moving now to our 02/2025 guidance, we have reaffirmed our outlook and expect to generate adjusted EBITDA between 1,600,000,000.0 and $2,200,000,000 and adjusted EBIT between 350,000,000 and $950,000,000, with the second half still expected to lag the first half.

Speaker 3

We have maintained wide ranges reflective of the high degree of uncertainty related to global trade and geopolitical issues. Before touching on our underlying assumptions regarding freight rates, volume, bunker cost, I would like to update on our contract volume. As can be expected, contract negotiations this year were affected by the uncertainty regarding tariff levels. And as such, the new annual Transpacific contracts, which went into effect on May, represents approximately 30% of our expected Transpacific volume for the coming year, somewhat similar percentage to the one of last year. Our view on freight rates and operating capacity are unchanged as compared to our guidance assumptions from March.

Speaker 3

We expect freight rates to be significantly lower in 2025 versus 2024 with average freight rates in the remainder of two thousand and twenty five lower than q one average. Also, we currently assume the sailings with the Red Sea will not resume this year, continuing to absorb significant capacity. We assume that we will maintain similar operative capacity on average to that of 2,024 over the course of the year as we renew some of the existing capacity or similar tonnage, though at lower rates than those fixed in '21 and '22. As such, we expect to continue to see an improvement in our cost structure. Given our exposure to the Transpacific, we revisited our volume growth assumptions and now assume low single digit volume growth year over year.

Speaker 3

Finally, as for bunker cost, we now expect slightly lower cost per ton in 2025 when compared to 02/2024. Before, we open the call to questions, a few more comments on the market. The current environment is marked by a range of factors greater and more diverse than ever, which significantly impact the supply demand balance we typically track to assess the health of the industry. The expected growth in capacity is known. The current order book to fleet ratio is significant, approximately 29% or about 9,000,000 TUs of equivalent capacity.

Speaker 3

But there are mitigating factors to consider with short term and long term impact. First, the delivery schedule for this capacity is spread out over the next four and a half years with more modest deliveries in 02/2025 and 02/1926. Scrapping has been minimal in recent years, and projections for the coming years are also low resulting in an aging fleet. At some point, scrapping should catch up. Also, the industry's decarbonization agenda and the need to meet stricter emission targets or customers' expectations will also require a higher pace of fleet renewal and could spur further scrapping.

Speaker 3

Yet the most significant factor impacting supply today is exogenic to our industry, the rediversion around the Cape Of Good Hope. As the current consensus is that we will continue to do so for the coming months, the outcome for 02/2025 are likely to be mostly driven demand driven, namely when and how we see resolution on US tariffs. Last week's agreement by The United States and China to bring down the level of mutual tariff for a ninety day period is a positive step and will allow demand to recover at least in the near term. It could also be viewed as much mutual recognition by both sides of the need to reach an agreement. The efforts of the current US Administration to address its trade deficit are not yet resolved.

Speaker 3

The tariff rates that will ultimately be established between The United States and China as well as other US trading partners will determine whether demand can return to previous levels or whether tariff level will establish new trade barriers. Equally important is the timing of these agreements as the ongoing uncertainty on tariff levels impacts purchasing and as a result, booking decisions leading to possible disruptions within the supply chain. Notwithstanding these tariff actions, we motivate trade and manufacturing diversification as both The US and China will most probably seek to reduce their mutual dependency. This in turn will further complicate supply chain management, which could present both risks and opportunities for our industry and also require further investment in inland and port infrastructures, which if insufficient could hold higher potential for disruptions. Thank you.

Speaker 3

And on that note, we will open the call to questions.

Operator

Your first question comes from the line of Munivah Kayani with Bank of America. Your line is open.

Speaker 4

Thank you for taking my questions and thank you for the detailed commentary around what you're seeing in this market environment. So firstly, on the market side and demand, what are you hearing from customers in terms of inventory levels right now? And we clearly have seen the surge over the last couple of days. Are you kind of expecting possibly an early peak season in ocean shipping this year and then a slower end year end? Just wanted to understand some of your thinking and feedback from customers.

Speaker 4

Second question around the Red Sea. There was some news recently that the Suez Canal expects the authority there expects liners to resume transiting through the canal within a month after they offered some discounts on those fees. So I think you just said that you don't expect it to open. So how are you thinking about that situation currently from an industry perspective as well as from a ZIM perspective? And if I may ask a third question, totally understand maintaining your guidance at this point, But now with 1Q behind you and you clearly said that the 1.8x second half comment, can you give us a sense of where do you think you'd be at this point landing up within your range upper end or lower end

Speaker 4

Thank you.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Muneeba. Starting with your first question with regards to the market, the demand, what do we hear back, the inventory levels of our customers. Clearly, I mean, we've seen ups and down in the in the market over the past few weeks in line with the changing situation with respect to to tariff. If we go back a little bit a little bit in in time, when the 45% tariff barrier was announced not so long ago, a few weeks ago, six five to six weeks ago, that had a clearly significant immediate effect in reducing and cancel the bookings that we've experienced. So the volume of cargo being moved out of China went down meaningfully from almost one day to the other.

Speaker 3

So as a result, clearly, on the other end, on the receiving receiving end in The US, retailers have had to tap into their inventory levels in order to continue to offer products to their customers. And there was always a debate, and a risk that if the situation was to remain as is, at some point, inventory would dry out and the risk of empty shelves in The US was was looming around. Now the recent announcement of a pause in the 45% tariff had also an immediate effect to somehow revitalize the the demand, and pretty much all the shippers were willing to bring cargo as quickly as possible for many reasons because of the threat of no longer having inventories, I believe is one, but also because the window is for now known of being ninety days and what will be thereafter is still very much very much unknown. So I think everybody is trying to take an opportunistic view here in this respect to to try to move cargo during the times when the effect of the tariff are potentially minimum. So is that does that mean and you're right in saying that from a timing perspective, this is potentially not too far away from the start of the peak season.

Speaker 3

Maybe we are a month in advance here in this respect. Time will tell. I think the more important element that will allow us to have a more definitive view as to how volume can can look like for the February will be very much where will we land from a tariff discussion perspective once the ninety day pause has elapsed, which is now coming up soon, July July ninth. With respect to your second question, the Red Sea, yes, today, we are of the view that it is more likely than not that in light of the current situation that continue to prevail in The Middle East, the Red Sea Canal will not be used by, by the industry for the foreseeable future. I think, and we are, of course, well aware of, the, incentive that the, Canal authorities have conveyed to the market trying to attract the capacity back to back to the canal.

Speaker 3

The way we look at it is clearly for us, we we will only come back to the canal when we are certain that it is safe to do so. We will not take any risk with our our seafarers. We'll not take any risk with our assets in terms of vessels. We will not take any risk with the cost the cargo of the customers that we carry. And also importantly, we will not just give it a go and try because what I think is important to remember is that now we have a stable network going around the Cape.

Speaker 3

And if we were to return and when we will return to the to the Red Sea, this in itself needs to be for the longer for the longer time. We cannot go in and out and assume that this is neutral to the repositioning of the vessels and the and the effect that it has on on our network. So that's why for us, it is not really a, you know, a tariff discussions or a fee canal fee discussion. This is not what is preventing us today from crossing the canal. It's very much the safety concerns that we believe are still extremely high.

Speaker 3

And then to your last question on the on the guidance, I think you will agree that it is extremely difficult today to have a clear view as to how the situation will be like, especially, you know, again, after we've gone through the various milestones that are ahead of us, I mentioned July 9, which is a key date where also the the the discussions on the tariff levels that will potentially prevail for all the countries, but China will potentially also change. We will, like, get to the end of the ninety day period. August 14 will be the end of the ninety day pause on the China tariff. So those key dates are still ahead of us, And depending on what will be the outcome here, we'll have a a significant potential effect on the financial performance of the company going into the second half. So that's why we kept a wide range of options in terms of in terms of guided figures both for EBITDA and and EBIT.

Speaker 4

That is clear. Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Omar Nokta with Jefferies. Your line is open.

Speaker 5

Thank you. Hi, Alvin and Xavier. Couple of questions for me. Xavier, you mentioned the twenty twenty five contracts on the Transpacific will be around 30% of volumes, like they were last year. Back a couple of months ago, mentioned you had a bit more of a constructive negotiation period, and that you were sounded like you were going to go back to maybe a fifty-fifty, spot versus contract.

Speaker 5

We know obviously a lot's happened between March and May, but can you give color as to maybe what happened or what drove the decline in this in that expectation going from fifty-fifty down to thirty-seventy?

Speaker 3

Sure. Thank you, Omar. Look, I think what I should start by saying is that this year, just like last year, when we go into those discussions with our main customers on the Transpacific trade, the state of mind has been the same. So we were indeed open to up to a 50% contract and remaining exposed to 50% to the spot market. But also and just like last year, we had a a minimum rate that we were not willing to compromise on in terms of expectation rate per customers that we believe was was the fair rate for both party to agree and and and settle settle out.

Speaker 3

Clearly, the discussion this year were very much also affected by the current market uncertainties with respect to the trade and tariff discussions. So we also had some of our customers that were more on a, you know, wait and see wait and see mode. And this is why, again, at the end of the day, the outcome is the one I've did mention I I mentioned that for the reason I I explained, well, some from a customer perspective, maybe a little bit willingness to to wait before to commit. And from our end, also the clear the clear instructions given to our commercial team to not go below certain rates that were pre agreed internally led to this outcome of a 70% split.

Speaker 5

Okay. Thank you. And then just kind of shifting a little bit maybe towards just volumes and and expectations. You're talking now for 25 low single digits versus single digits, initially expected. I know it's not a substantial change, but wanted to get maybe if you could qualify what's behind that.

Speaker 5

Is that because of what you saw in April, and so you've adjusted accordingly? Or is it more perhaps a more modest outlook for the remainder of the year?

Speaker 3

There are two things here. First of all, I think when we look at our volume, in q one, we are very pleased with the 12% volume growth year over year. However, initially, we had expected a little bit more than what we delivered, And we we faced the you know, a few weeks after Chinese New Year, the recovery of volume out in and out of The US was a little bit took a little bit more time than what was initially anticipated. So that's that's one of these volume that we did not carry in the first quarter may may not be caught up in in the future ones. And the second element is also, as you know, we've we've transitioned to a new to a new partnership with with MSC working away from the two web, and that transition as well has a little bit of effect in the overall utilization of the fleet, and that contributed as well to a little bit less volume being carried.

Speaker 3

So that to the conjunction of those two elements, I think, explain what has happened between now and and May. And now also looking looking forward, we clearly do see a pickup in the demand from from cargo movements between China and Asia to the to The US. We also, as Eddie mentioned, did take decisions to to redesign and adjust our network not so long ago. We are now canceling those decisions and bringing the capacity back. So that also has a little bit of an effect in the overall utilization of our fleet as we need to reposition some of some of the ships.

Speaker 3

So that's mostly why, overall, now we are a little bit more conservative in our volume assumptions for 2025 when compared to what we communicated earlier on in March.

Speaker 5

Okay. Thank you. That that's clear. And and the final quick one perhaps, and then I'll turn it over. Are you able to give, you know, what portion of your Transpacific volume is is direct China US related?

Speaker 3

You mean out of the Transpacific, what is the weight of a China in our loadings? Is that the question, Omar?

Speaker 5

Yeah. Yeah. Just basically the the the bilateral relationship, China US US China of, you know, that that portion of the business, perhaps maybe 2024 Yeah. Yeah. That's Asia was.

Speaker 3

Yes. Yes. That's the significant majority of the cargo that we move originates from from Asia to the tune of 60 to 70%. The rest would be Southeast Asia, neighboring countries, Vietnam, Thailand, Korea, you name it.

Speaker 5

Okay. Thank you. I'll pass it back.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Marco Limat with Barclays. Your line is open.

Speaker 6

Hi. Thanks for taking my question. I've got two. So the first one, the CEO clearly mentioned in its opening statement, but if you could comment a bit more about your exposure to The U. S.

Speaker 6

Port fee. So if you could just remind us how much of your fleet is Chinese built And what are the actions that you could take in order to mitigate the risk? Second question is about your, let's say, Q2 outlook in a way. So you have reported a very strong Q1. Now if we think about the second quarter, spot rates are possibly going up sequentially because of the disruption and volumes are seasonally stronger.

Speaker 6

So do you think it's right to think about the Q2 profitability that is up quarter over quarter? Or in Q1, there is any sort of special effect, maybe delay in revenue recognition, which will have an impact in the second quarter? Thank you.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Marco. First, on the USTR and the fee that we potentially be required to be paid by by us if we were to call The US with Chinese built or owned vessels. We are clearly looking into it right now. To answer your question, the fleet that we operate globally as a as a as we are as in as you know, we've changed meaningfully the profiling of our fleet over the past couple of years, twenty three and '24. This is when we brought those 46 brand new ships that today allow us indeed to be far more competitive in our in our industry.

Speaker 3

But as those vessels are recent, we are more exposed to Chinese that built tonnage than maybe some of our competitors that, you know, have a have not had such a big new build activity over the past couple of years. So just to give you a little bit of an indication, we today, when we look at the fleets that we operate, the 780,000 tus of equivalent tonnage, a bit less than half of it is is Chinese built, and the rest is is non Chinese. So when we look at the potential levy or or fees that may come in in October this year. Clearly, we are now, first of all, looking at how we can shift swap tonnage between trades to ensure that we minimize the effect of that fee on our cost structure and and as a result, avoid to having to incur incremental cost that we would need to, at some point, try to return. So it is work in progress.

Speaker 3

We are looking at what are the options that we can we can take here, again, in a view to ensure that we minimize, if not neutralize, the potential impact on the of those fees. With respect to your second question, I think I understand what you have in mind here. Clearly, as we said, the volume is picking up over the past few days. We've seen that as I'm sure you have as well. As a result, also, when the demand comes back up, the rates tend to follow.

Speaker 3

So it is a likely scenario that at least for the few weeks to come, there will be a a positive, you know, driver to support the the profitability of the of the trades. But I think what we are very careful about is how long would that will that last. I'm gonna go back to the key dates that are still ahead of us. Yes. Of course, we are focusing a lot on China, and we have up until August.

Speaker 3

If nothing changes, this is the ninety day window where maybe trades will be supported in in that period. But we also have, as I mentioned earlier on, in between our July and the ninth, still the, the the key data as to what will be the situation with respect to a tariff levels that are today, back to, you know, minimum level. But we don't know if that's going to persist, after July 9 for all the surrounding countries around around China, you know, Vietnam, Thailand, Korea, Cambodia that I was talking about not so long ago, those may be hit hard if there is no resolution between US and those respective countries in terms of in terms of trade discussions. So there is a lot of uncertainties still ahead. Yes.

Speaker 3

Good news to start with. However, how long the the momentum will continue is the big unknown.

Speaker 6

Okay. Thank you. And if you if I could stick as a one very quickly. So over the last one or two weeks, China to The U. Has recovered very, very strongly.

Speaker 6

How the other trade lanes are doing? Because my understanding was that other Asia to U. S. Was very strong as an offset to China to The U. S.

Speaker 6

Those trade lanes have those trade lanes normalized or are still very strong as well? Thank you very much.

Speaker 3

I think today, where we see a lot of movement in a way and fluctuation and variations are are clearly those trade lanes that link China and Southeast Asia to to The US. I would say that on the other trade lanes, it's more business as usual if you if you will.

Speaker 6

Your

Operator

next question comes from the line of Alexia Deghani with JPMorgan. Your line is open.

Speaker 7

Yes, good afternoon. Thank you for taking my questions. And just firstly, can you discuss a little bit about your kind of network development thoughts near term? I think in Q1, you kind of exited from one Transpac Pacific trade. Where did that capacity go?

Speaker 7

And how quickly would you reintroduce services in the region? Should there be a kind of more lasting kind of trade policy agreement? Then secondly, can you help us distribute your capacity in different kind of charter duration buckets? If you talk about how much of your capacity can renew within the next twelve months, how much between one to five years and how much over five years, that would be quite helpful to understand kind of the profile. And then finally, are you looking at all to kind of your cost base more structurally when you think about unit costs compared to, let's say, pre pandemic levels, where there could be some savings?

Speaker 7

Where could those savings come from? So we can understand a little bit current levels of profitability on, I guess, kind of current spot rates. Obviously, last week was a big move. But just to give us kind of a broad understanding of how close are we to breakeven currently? Thank

Speaker 3

you, Alexia. So taking your questions in order, the first one with respect to the network, I think what we mentioned is indeed we've tried, and we will continue to try our best to always dynamically react to changing market conditions. And we have reacted, and we did react following the hike in the tariff between US and China. And this is precisely what we did to suspend, and we announced the suspension of what we call our ZX two service, which is a a service linking China to to the West Coast to to LA because we did clearly see the bookings from China dropping meaningfully, as I mentioned earlier on, following this announcement of a 45% tariff. But a few weeks a few weeks later, we are in a very different situation.

Speaker 3

And indeed, with the with the oppose in the in the enforcement of this 45 tariff, we've announced that we were unwinding our decision to suspend, and we we have resumed the service as for as from next week. So we are very quick and very fast, and I think agility is the name of the game here to try our best to anticipate changing market conditions. But more importantly, because anticipation is difficult, and more importantly, to react extremely fast to changing market conditions. So to your point, yes, we did announce not so long ago the suspension of that service to a few weeks later, you know, come back and and know this this announcement and and resuming the service between between Asia and and and LA and the West Coast. With respect to charter duration, what when we look when you look at the capacity that we operate today, 780,000 TEUs worth of capacity, Two third of that capacity is owned or long term charter.

Speaker 3

Precisely to your question, we define a long term charter commitment that exceed five years. So two thirds, 520,000 TEUs today are either owned, and that's that is 16 ships, give or take hundred thousand TEUs, and the rest, 460,000 TEUs, give or take, is chartered for period or duration exceeding five years. And that allows us to have a clear visibility on a cost structure because those charter rates are known. Also, as I mentioned earlier on, we have options to extend. We have option to buy the the those vessels at the end of the charter duration.

Speaker 3

So we have a clear visibility of what the cost structure of the company can be as far as those vessels are concerned for the foreseeable future. And then the rest, so a third, thirty three percent, representing 260,000 TEU worth of capacity are made of small smaller sized vessels that are being chartered and sourced from the short term charter market. So here, as we say, less less than five years. And even today, when we look at the profiling of this tonnage, it is it is maybe even to the vast majority less than less than three years. So we have 80,000 t u's of capacity that covers up for renewal in '25, a similar number in 02/1926, which gives us the flexibility to to adjust at least some of the capacity that we will operate in the coming quarters.

Speaker 3

And then lastly to to your question, when we look at our cost structure and where there are, of course, areas to potentially improve. We are always looking, obviously, at extracting cost in our cost structure. I think we've done a significant or achieved a significant improvement by finalizing our fleet transformation program. But what we are also looking at right now is maybe as opposed to reduce cost to also try to avoid cost that could potentially be be not incurred, and this is ensuring that we are doing a better job in reducing the repositioning of empty containers. So that requires tools, digital tool to to know precisely where the equipment is, where the equipment will be in the coming weeks in order to motivate also a commercial the commercial team to take export cargo and and make sure that we optimize the flow of of equipment.

Speaker 3

So I think that's one area that we can talk about. Another one is clearly also, as you know, we've been and we will continue to invest heavily in further digitizing digitizing our our industry and our company in order to also make sure that our customer enjoy a seamless experience when working with Zoom and potentially interest us with their cargo more than to to to others. So that's we continue to be a key element for the company. Now the one thing that, unfortunately, we do not really control is the cargo handling charge that we pay on the term you know, when we call terminals. And as you know, the effects of the discussions that took place between the unions and the terminals in the East Coast led to an increase in the cargo handling charge in The US, and that obviously is somewhat affecting our cost structure.

Speaker 7

Thank you.

Operator

This concludes our q and a session. I will turn the call back over to Mr. Glickman for closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Thank you. We are pleased with ZIM's strong first quarter of twenty twenty five in which we grew carried volumes by 12% year over year and delivered improved profit profitability. Our performance reflect the benefit of our transformed fleet, improved cost structure, outstanding commercial agility, and execution, as well as strong underlying demand during the first part of the year. We continue to share our success with investors and declared a dividend of $34.74 correction, 74¢ per share for a total of $89,000,000, consistent with our dividend policy and capital allocation priorities. In a few weeks, Zoom will mark its eighteen years anniversary from a humble beginning as an operator of a single passenger ship, ZIM has established itself as a global container shipping company, calling more than 330 ports and serving over 30,000 customer worldwide.

Speaker 2

We are proud of our market position and reputation we have among industry players as innovative provider of seaborne transportation and logistics services. Following our successful strategic transformation and fleet renewal program, we are confident even against the backdrop of highly uncertain market environment that our differentiated strategy and enhanced industry position will drive sustainable goals over the long term. Thank you again for joining us. We look forward to sharing our continued progress with you all.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

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Key Takeaways

  • ZIM operates in a highly uncertain geopolitical environment: the recent 90-day US-China tariff suspension has reversed two months of depressed Transpacific volumes, but management remains cautious without a longer-term trade deal and is evaluating new US short-port fees on Chinese-built vessels.
  • ZIM delivered a strong Q1 with revenue of $2.0 billion (up 28% YoY), net income of $296 million, adjusted EBITDA of $779 million (39% margin) and 12% volume growth to 944,000 TEUs.
  • The company declared a Q1 dividend of $0.74 per share (totaling $89 million), maintained $3.4 billion in liquidity, and reaffirmed full-year 2025 guidance of adjusted EBITDA between $1.6–2.2 billion and adjusted EBIT between $350–950 million, with better performance expected in H1 versus H2.
  • ZIM’s fleet transformation is complete with modern, larger vessels and a new 12-year charter for ten 11,500 TEU LNG dual-fuel ships, resulting in ~40% LNG-powered capacity, a 16% reduction in carbon intensity in 2024, and a net-zero roadmap.
  • Management highlighted commercial agility and diversification, having realigned Transpacific services in response to tariff shifts, reinstated China-US routes within weeks, and bolstered positions in Southeast Asia and Latin America to mitigate trade volatility.
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Earnings Conference Call
ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Q1 2025
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