Hamburg Süd transported 4.1 million TEUs in 2015, a year-on-year increase of 21.5%, according to statistics released by the carrier.

According to Hamburg Süd, it managed to meet its volume growth planned for the reporting year, despite the weakness of the South American economies.

Having grew its fleet capacity by 16% to 625,000 TEUs in 2015, the Hamburg Süd Group became one of the world’s 10 largest container shipping lines for the first time.

Total turnover for the group rose 16.8% to €6.06 billion (US$6.84 billion), which the company attributed mainly to the entry into the Asia-Europe trade lane and the takeover in March 2015 of the container operations of the Chilean shipping company Compañía Chilena de Navegación Interoceánica S.A..

For 2016, Hamburg Süd expects a volume growth of about 8% compared to 2015, while group turnover is expected to stay roughly the same because of overcapacity, pressure on freight rates and a weak economic environment.