Maersk in May 4th released the first quarter results, Maersk said as container shipping rates continue to fall from last year's extreme highs, the future of major market demand will weaken, the quarterly results will be its 2023 best quarterly earnings.
compared with the first quarter of last year, Maersk's revenue fell a little more than 25% to $14.2 billion, a decrease of $5.1 billion. Average loading freight fell 37 percent year-on-year to $2,871/FEU, while the company's first-quarter freight volume fell 9.4 percent to 2.7 million FEU.
Maersk expects its full-year EBITDA to be between $8 billion and $11 billion, down from $36.8 billion last year. EBIT for the year was $2 billion to $5 billion, down from $30.8 billion in 2022.
Maersk chief executive Vincent Clerc called the container shipping market "extremely normal". The company's profit guidance for the year shows the dramatic impact of the slowing business environment. "Volume and rate developments in the second half of the year remain uncertain," Clerc said in its first-quarter earnings analysis. "We continue to believe volumes will recover, but given industry orders, supply-side risks remain.
Maersk, despite the financial year-on-year decline, but the company in the earnings fell sharply in the case of still maintain high profits, this fact illustrates the past 3 years the market reached extreme levels.
Profit peak has passed
The first quarter of was characterized by continued destocking in Europe, particularly in North America. Compared to the beginning of last year, Maersk's sales volume and rates declined in all geographic segments in the first quarter. Despite the data slump, Maersk's net profit in the first quarter was $0.2 billion, and despite a 3% decline from the first quarter of last year, Maersk is still highly profitable compared to its 1-year results before the pandemic, when it reported a first-quarter loss of $6.62019 billion.
Chief Financial Officer Patrick Jany said that this year Maersk's earnings have reached its peak. He pointed out that the average interest rate level in the first quarter, spot and contract fell by 25%, compared with the same period last year fell by 37%.
The first quarter will be ocean shipping's strongest quarter, and with new contracts, we will see profitability return, Jany said.
Maersk expects that in 2023 70% of its total traffic will be carried under contracts, up from 68% in 2022, while this year 75% of all contracts have been signed, and at the end of the first quarter, the number of containers on multi-year contracts remains unchanged at 1.8 million FEU.
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