The earnings report, which showed third-quarter net profit nearly halved to $778mn from $1.5bn a year ago, comes two days after Maersk Line said it would slash costs, cut staff by nearly a fifth and pull out of a few vessel orders.
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The decline “was primarily due to container freight rates deteriorating to a historically low level, especially in the later part of the third quarter, and profits in Maersk Oil being impacted by the lower oil price”, chief executive Nils Andersen said in a statement.
“We have for several years expected consolidation”.
On Friday, the company said it now expected demand for seaborne container transportation around the world to grow 1-3 percent, lower than its previous view of 2-4 percent.
Growth in demand for shipping, at 1% in the third quarter, is the lowest since the 2008 financial crisis that hit the industry particularly hard.
“For sure, we as a company have had an increase in the capacity compared to past year, so we have a bit of overcapacity now and we have tried to eliminate that because when the prices are really poor the upside of having additional capacity is close to zero…We hope we can get higher rates but we’re also very determined to keep our market share and we’ll fight for that”.
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However, one silver lining for the group is the turnaround in fortunes at its logistics arm, Damco, which made a $20m profit after posting a loss of $68m past year, and despite the fact that revenues declined 15% to $719m, largely due to exchange rate movements.
