Hapag-Lloyd Chief Executive Rolf Habben Jansen said container-shipping demand has remained stronger than expected despite an increasingly unpredictable operating environment shaped by Middle East security risks, route disruptions and rising costs. The company has suspended transits through the Strait of Hormuz to protect crews and employees, while bunker fuel, insurance, container handling and inland transportation expenses have risen. Disruption-related costs reached about $50 million to $60 million per week during the period covered by Hapag-Lloyd's June customer call. Habben Jansen said in an August CNBC interview that industry resilience was surprisingly strong, and said tariffs of 15% to 20% could redirect cargo without stopping global trade. Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk, partners in Gemini, have shifted four additional services from routes around Africa to the Suez Canal, releasing effective vessel capacity as Red Sea operations are reassessed. Hapag-Lloyd is also revising its proposed $4.2 billion acquisition of Zim to address Israeli security concerns while seeking to preserve the possibility of closing by year-end. The combined company would generate estimated annual synergies of $300 million to $500 million and operate more than 400 vessels with capacity above 3 million TEUs, but would remain behind China's Cosco in the global ranking.