FRANKFURT German container shipper Hapag-Lloyd on Thursday posted a net profit of 2.9 billion euros ($3.18 billion) for the first half of 2023, down by 67% from a year earlier, but maintained its forecasts for full-year earnings.

The 2.9 billion euros compared with 8.7 billion euros in 2022 when shipping, a proxy for global trade, enjoyed a boom in the post-pandemic economic growth rebound and in light of logistics disruptions.

But now, the global economic slowdown and the clearing of supply log-jams have sent freight rates back down, which has also harmed Hapag-Lloyd's rivals Maersk and CMA CGM.

"Weaker demand and lower freight rates are having a very noticeable impact on our earnings," chief executive Rolf Habben Jansen said in a statement.

Transport volumes were down 3.4% at 5.8 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), while freight rates were down 38% at $1,761 per TEU.

Some relief came from lower transport expenses, mainly due to lower tanker fuel prices.

Hapag-Lloyd, the world's fifth-largest shipping line, upheld its May guidance - which itself had repeated a March guidance - for its 2023 full-year earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) to be in a 2-4 billion euros range.

EBITDA is expected to be in a range of 4 to 6 billion euros.

However, the ongoing war in Ukraine, geopolitical uncertainties, persistent inflationary pressures and high inventory levels are creating risks that could negatively impact the forecast, it said.

A.P. Moller-Maersk last week said global container trade volumes might fall by up to 4% this year as companies reduce inventories while higher interest rates and recession risks in Europe and the United States drag on global economic growth.

($1 = 0.9107 euros)

(Reporting by Vera Eckert, editing by Friederike Heine and Kim Coghill)