Maersk reports record profit as shipping rates surge
By Sean Farrell
Date: Tuesday 02 Nov 2021
(Sharecast News) - Maersk reported record quarterly profit and said there was no end in sight for the supply chain crisis that has sent shipping rates soaring.
Earnings before interest and tax increased almost five times to $5.9bn in the three months to the end of September from a year earlier as revenue jumped 68% to $16.6bn, the Danish shipping company said.
Performance was driven by Maersk's main ocean business, where earnings soared to $5.3bn from $968m as higher freight rates more than offset higher costs. Shipping costs have surged as ports around the world have struggled to cope with rising demand as the economy recovers from the worst of the pandemic.
Maersk said it expected conditions to last at least into the first quarter of 2022 with earnings for that period forecast to match the fourth quarter of 2021.
Chief Executive Soren Skou said congestion at ports such as Los Angeles and Long Beach in California was getting worse and that more longshoremen and truckers were needed.
"The ports are not working as well as they should do, so we can't discharge containers as fast as we would like," he told the Financial Times. "It's hard to see exactly when the situation will improve. Our customers are dealing with super high customer demand, and on top of that they have very low inventory."
Maersk also said it would spend more than $1bn to buy Senator International, a German freight forwarding company, to expand its air freight business.
Shares of Maersk rose 2.5% to 19,725 Danish krone at 12:27 GMT.
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