COPENHAGEN: A. P. Moller-Maersk A/S, a bellwether for world trade, forecast growth in the global container market in the face of an intensifying trade war. The global container market will expand 4% this year, the company estimates in a statement.
Maersk also reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat estimates.
After a profitable 2024 for shipping lines, the outlook for 2025 is bleaker with President Donald Trump’s attack on free trade raising concerns about demand.
One of the main causes for the unexpectedly big 2024 profits for the industry was the attacks by Houthis in the Red Sea, which boosted freight rates.
Maersk’s underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation will be in a range of US$6bil to US$9bil in 2025. That compares with an average analyst estimate of US$6.7bil.
Hitting the low end of the guidance implies a reopening of the Red Sea shipping route by mid-year, but if vessels cannot transit there until year-end, Maersk said it expects profits to reach the high end of the range.
Still, Maersk late Wednesday chose to start a share buyback programme, worth as much as US$2bil, to spend some of 2024’s windfall profits. –– Bloomberg
