German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd narrowed its full-year earnings guidance range but cautioned that major geopolitical challenges and volatile freight rates mean that forecasts remain subject to considerable uncertainty.

Both continuing Red Sea tensions and global trade conflict could have a significant impact on supply and demand in container shipping and therefore on the company's earnings performance, it said.

The world's fifth-largest container line by capacity said it would stay focused on growth and quality as well as operational and commercial performance in the second half of the year while continuing to optimize its cost structure.

"At the same time, we will do everything in our power to help our customers navigate this volatile market environment, and we hope that more new trade agreements will make their supply chains more predictable," Chief Executive Rolf Habben Jansen said.

It now expects to report full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of between 2.5 billion and 3.4 billion euros ($2.93 billion-$3.98 billion) compared with its previous expectation of between 2.4 billion and 3.9 billion euros. Earnings before interest and tax is forecast at 200 million to 1.1 billion euros from previous guidance of up to 1.5 billion euros.

Write to Dominic Chopping at [email protected]