Status: 09.02.2022 4:38 p.m
The scarce transport capacities due to tight supply chains have brought Maersk a profit of 18 billion US dollars. The world’s largest container shipping company thus set a Danish record.
The tense supply chains have weighed on the Danish shipping company Maersk a record profit last year. According to its own statements, the company was able to make a profit of 18 billion US dollars, more than six times as much as in the already profitable first Corona year 2020. Maersk also set a Danish record: According to the Ritzau news agency, it has never had one before Danish company made as much money in one year as Maersk did in 2021.
The turnover of the world’s largest container shipping company jumped to 61.8 billion dollars, as the company announced. Compared to 2020, this is an increase of around 55 percent. The main reason for the increased income is the enormously increased prices for container transport, which were driven up by supply bottlenecks and a lack of transport capacities.
Expect relaxation of the supply chains
The corona pandemic has thrown the shipping companies’ schedules upside down in such a way that ships and containers are often unable to keep to their schedules. As a result, consumers and companies sometimes have to wait months for the goods they have ordered. In China and the USA in particular, the economy picked up earlier and more vigorously than in Germany, which also increased the demand for sea transport. As a result, the capacities are more than exhausted.
In the current year, however, Maersk expects global supply chains to relax. While it should bring relief in many sectors when the bottlenecks in the global trade in goods come to an end, shipping companies are preparing for the extreme boom in shipping to slow down. Maersk management expects adjusted earnings before interest and taxes to be around $19 billion in 2022, the company said. That would be slightly less than the $ 19.8 billion from 2021. This initially put pressure on Maersk shares, but then the paper turned positive and was last listed around 2.9 percent higher.
Billion acquisition in the forwarding business
At the same time, Maersk announced that it would further expand its onshore transport business through a takeover. Planned is the takeover of the US company Pilot Freight Services for 1.68 billion US dollars, as announced by the Danes. The freight forwarding company specializes in the transport of large, unwieldy goods for online trade.
The purchase price corresponds to an enterprise value of 1.8 billion dollars including debt, it said. Regulatory approvals for the transaction are still pending. Maersk only announced the takeover of the German flight logistics company Senator International in November.