Shipping supply/demand imbalance to persist-Maersk

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

30 Sep 2009

The supply and demand imbalance in shipping will persist for several years, weighing on earnings, the head of Danish shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk said. "This, combined with lower oil prices, will put pressure on our earnings in the short term," Chief Executive Nils Smedegaard Andersen said in an edition of "Maersk Post" personnel magazine published on Tuesday.
"Paradoxically, this could turn out to be an advantage for the group," Andersen said, adding that the economic crisis compelled the group to cut costs, abandon or postpone some investments and streamline work.
"This meant that we were ahead of the curve and did not hit the wall of the global economic slowdown as hard as many of our competitors did, because they had continued to focus on aggressive growth," Andersen added.
A.P. Moller-Maersk, which owns the world's biggest container shipping company, Maersk Line, last month posted record first-half net losses of 3.02 billion Danish crowns ($594.8 million) and said it expected similar losses in the second half.
Losses piled up as the slump in world trade hit freight rates and volumes.
Andersen said in his "Maersk Post" leader that the group was outperforming the market in most of its businesses.
"For instance, before the crisis Maersk Line earned $200 less per container than its competitors, compared to $100 more per container today," Andersen said.
He said Maersk's Supply Service and APM Terminals businesses have gained market shares in declining markets.
"This has put us in a unique position, not only to emerge as an even stronger company, but also to seize the opportunities that will arise after the crisis," Andersen said.

Source: Reuters