Maersk raises guidance after record profits but warns boom will die down later
Maersk announced today it was raising its guidance for the year after it posted record profits for the first quarter.
In the last three months, the group’s revenues went ahead of expectations to $19.3bn, while Maersk’s EBITDA amounted to $7.9bn.
As a result of a 71 per cent increase in freight rates, the logistics giant increased its guidance for the full year to $30bn – up from previous guidance of $24bn as well as analysts’ predictions of $28bn.
The guidance was based on the “assumption of normalisation in ocean shipping early in the second half of 2022.”
The shipping industry has reaped record profits in the recent quarters as a combination of increasing consumer demand, pandemic-related bottlenecks and the war-induced airspace closure prompted a surge in freight rates.
But according to Maersk, global container demand will quiet down in the second half of the year, with growth going down from between 2 and 4 per cent to -1 and 1 per cent.