Straight Talk with Rolf Habben Jansen

Straight Talk with Rolf Habben Jansen

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Straight Talk with Rolf Habben Jansen episodes

  • Africa: container shipping's biggest opportunity

    In the fourth episode of Straight Talk, maritime journalist Janet Porter speaks with Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd, and container shipping analyst Lars Jensen about Africa. The episode marks a special occasion: Hapag-Lloyd celebrates 20 years in South Africa this year.

    Lars joins from the Hapag-Lloyd office in Senegal. He is on an 18-month journey through 41 African countries in a 39-year-old Volkswagen van, exploring the continent's container logistics opportunities. Rolf explains why he sees Africa as the single biggest opportunity for the industry in the coming decades, and why Hapag-Lloyd's Africa volumes of around one million TEU should only be a stepping stone.

    The conversation covers the infrastructure gap in ports and inland transport, the trade imbalance between imports and exports, and why containerization in Africa still grows at twice the rate of the economy. Rolf and Lars also look at the differences between West, Southern and Eastern Africa, why local presence matters, and how large Africa's container market could become.

    In this episode:

    • Why Rolf Habben Jansen sees Africa as container shipping's biggest opportunity
    • Why 54 countries make Africa anything but one single market
    • What Lars Jensen is learning on his journey through 41 African countries
    • Why ports, roads and breakwaters remain the biggest bottleneck
    • Why containerization in Africa still grows at twice the rate of the economy
    • Why Africa remains an import market with a large trade imbalance
    • Where cargo into Africa comes from: Asia, Europe, India and the Middle East
    • Why West Africa is growing fastest and how it differs from Southern and Eastern Africa
    • Why boots on the ground matter, and how the Nile Dutch and Deutsche Afrika-Linien acquisitions helped
    • What Africa's container market could look like in 20 years

    The speakers

    Rolf Habben Jansen
    Chief Executive Officer of Hapag-Lloyd, one of the world’s leading liner shipping companies. He shares insights into global trade, container shipping, crisis management, and the future of maritime logistics.

    Janet Porter

    Maritime journalist with many years of experience covering the container shipping industry. She brings deep sector knowledge and asks the key questions behind the stories shaping global shipping.

    Lars Jensen

    Container shipping analyst. He is currently travelling through 41 African countries over 18 months to explore the continent's container logistics opportunities.

    More Infos about Hapag-Lloyd:

    https://www.hapag-lloyd.com/

    https://www.linkedin.com/company/hapag-lloyd-ag

    https://www.facebook.com/hapaglloydag/

    https://www.instagram.com/hapaglloydag/

    https://www.tiktok.com/@hapaglloydag_official

    Impressum/Legal Notice:

    https://www.hapag-lloyd.com/en/meta/imprint.html

    25 min
  • The hidden strength of mergers & acquisitions

    In the third episode of Straight Talk, maritime journalist Janet Porter speaks with Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd, about mergers and acquisitions in container shipping – and why Hapag-Lloyd has survived two decades of consolidation while many iconic names have disappeared.

    Rolf looks back at the acquisitions that shaped today's Hapag-Lloyd, from CP Ships and CSAV to UASC, and explains what each of them brought to the company. He shares what he considers the hardest part of any merger: building the best team out of two teams, blending cultures across more than 40 nationalities at the Hamburg headquarters, and giving talent from acquired companies a real path into leadership.

    The conversation also covers the practical side of integration: why moving fast to one IT platform is critical, where the biggest synergies really come from, why Hapag-Lloyd has always moved to one brand after a merger, and how the company fended off a takeover attempt in 2008. Rolf also shares his outlook on how far consolidation in liner shipping may still go – and why five to seven large global carriers within a decade would not surprise him.

    In this episode:

    • Why Hapag-Lloyd survived two decades of consolidation
    • The pros and cons of organic growth versus mergers and acquisitions
    • What CP Ships, CSAV and UASC each brought to Hapag-Lloyd
    • Why people, systems and customers decide the success of any merger
    • How to build the best team out of two teams and blend corporate cultures
    • Why moving fast to one IT platform is critical in integrations
    • Where the biggest synergies come from: fewer services, bigger ships
    • Why Hapag-Lloyd always moves to one brand after a merger
    • How steady performance protects a company from takeovers
    • The outlook for further consolidation in liner shipping

    The speakers

    Rolf Habben Jansen
    Chief Executive Officer of Hapag-Lloyd, one of the world’s leading liner shipping companies. He shares insights into global trade, container shipping, crisis management, and the future of maritime logistics.

    Janet Porter

    Maritime journalist with many years of experience covering the container shipping industry. She brings deep sector knowledge and asks the key questions behind the stories shaping global shipping.

    More Infos about Hapag-Lloyd:

    https://www.hapag-lloyd.com/

    https://www.linkedin.com/company/hapag-lloyd-ag

    https://www.facebook.com/hapaglloydag/

    https://www.instagram.com/hapaglloydag/

    https://www.tiktok.com/@hapaglloydag_official

    Impressum/Legal Notice:

    https://www.hapag-lloyd.com/en/meta/imprint.html

    19 min
  • How globalization is reshaping world trade

    In the second episode of Straight Talk with Rolf Habben Jansen, maritime journalist Janet Porter speaks with Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd, about 70 years of containerization and the forces shaping the next phase of global trade.

    The conversation starts with the birth of containerization in 1956 and looks at how a simple idea transformed global trade. Rolf explains why he believes globalization is not over, how trade flows are changing in response to tariffs, sanctions and geopolitical disruption, and where future container growth may come from, including Africa, India, Southeast Asia and South America.

    He also discusses why vessels are unlikely to become much bigger, how ports and networks need to be planned decades ahead, why nearshoring is happening more gradually than many expected, and how trade imbalances, packaging efficiency and electric vehicles influence container volumes. The episode closes with a cautiously optimistic view on the future of container shipping and its role in spreading prosperity around the world.

    In this episode

    • Why Rolf Habben Jansen believes globalization is not over
    • How 70 years of containerization transformed global trade
    • Why trade flows are becoming more diverse and complex
    • Where future container growth may come from, including Africa, India, Southeast Asia and South America
    • What tariffs, sanctions and geopolitical disruption mean for customers
    • Why nearshoring is real but still limited in scale
    • How vessel size, port infrastructure and long-term fleet planning are connected
    • Why rail and trucking can complement but not replace ocean transport
    • How scale, mergers and acquisitions shape liner shipping
    • Why EVs and changing consumption patterns could support future container growth

    The speakers

    Rolf Habben Jansen
    Chief Executive Officer of Hapag-Lloyd, one of the world’s leading liner shipping companies. He shares insights into global trade, container shipping, crisis management, and the future of maritime logistics.

    Janet Porter

    Maritime journalist with many years of experience covering the container shipping industry. She brings deep sector knowledge and asks the key questions behind the stories shaping global shipping.

    More Infos about Hapag-Lloyd:

    https://www.hapag-lloyd.com/

    https://www.linkedin.com/company/hapag-lloyd-ag

    https://www.facebook.com/hapaglloydag/

    https://www.instagram.com/hapaglloydag/

    https://www.tiktok.com/@hapaglloydag_official

    Impressum/Legal Notice:

    https://www.hapag-lloyd.com/en/meta/imprint.html

    27 min
  • The Strait of Hormuz and its impact on global supply chains

    In the first episode of Straight Talk with Rolf Habben Jansen, maritime journalist Janet Porter speaks with Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd, about one of the most pressing disruptions currently facing global shipping: the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and its impact on vessels, crews, cargo flows, costs, and customers.

    Rolf shares how Hapag-Lloyd is responding to the crisis, including the daily work of its crisis team, efforts to support seafarers stranded in the Persian Gulf, and the complex task of rerouting thousands of containers through alternative land bridges. He also explains why this crisis differs from previous disruptions such as COVID-19, the Suez Canal situation, and Panama Canal restrictions — especially because fuel costs are rising globally while the direct cargo impact remains more regionally concentrated.

    The conversation also looks ahead: What would it take for vessels to leave the Gulf? How long could it take for trade flows to normalize? When might shipping lines return to the Suez Canal? And what does this latest crisis mean for network resilience, customer relationships, and the future of seafaring?

    In this episode

    • How Hapag-Lloyd is managing the Strait of Hormuz crisis
    • The impact on container shipping, Gulf trade, and stranded cargo
    • How crews on vessels in the Persian Gulf are being supported
    • Why land bridges can only replace a limited share of ocean capacity
    • The financial impact of higher bunker costs, insurance, storage, and lost revenue
    • How customers are responding to surcharges and additional logistics costs
    • Why the crisis is different from COVID-19 and the Suez disruption
    • How Hapag-Lloyd’s Gemini hub-and-spoke network is proving resilient
    • What a return to Suez could look like and why it may take until after peak season 2026
    • The long-term implications for seafarers and global supply chains.

    The speakers

    Rolf Habben Jansen
    Chief Executive Officer of Hapag-Lloyd, one of the world’s leading liner shipping companies. He shares insights into global trade, container shipping, crisis management, and the future of maritime logistics.

    Janet Porter

    Maritime journalist with many years of experience covering the container shipping industry. She brings deep sector knowledge and asks the key questions behind the stories shaping global shipping.

    More Infos about Hapag-Lloyd:

    https://www.hapag-lloyd.com/

    https://www.linkedin.com/company/hapag-lloyd-ag

    https://www.facebook.com/hapaglloydag/

    https://www.instagram.com/hapaglloydag/

    https://www.tiktok.com/@hapaglloydag_official

    Impressum/Legal Notice:

    https://www.hapag-lloyd.com/en/meta/imprint.html

    28 min

About Straight Talk with Rolf Habben Jansen

From the publisher's feed

Join Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd, for direct and insightful conversations on the key developments shaping container shipping, global trade, and maritime logistics.