Hapag-Lloyd CEO: No Rush to IPO

German container shipping group Hapag-Lloyd will focus on integration of Vapores , the Chilean firm with which it is merging, and a return to profit before pressing ahead with a stock market flotation, its chief executive said.

"We believe in our plan, that is why we are not in a rush," Rolf Habben Jansen told journalists in remarks embargoed for Friday.

In the longer run, Hapag-Lloyd still aims to launch an initial public offering, but the CEO has said it was difficult to predict whether this would be possible this year already.

Reporting by Jan Schwartz