Major shipping lines reported profits in the second quarter, but earnings growth slowed compared to recent years, as market volatility and trade disruptions continued to weigh on operations.

Sea-Intelligence said in a recent report that in the first quarter of 2025, major shipping lines recorded a combined EBIT of US$5.89 billion despite market uncertainty and a volatile geopolitical climate. This was only lower than the Q1 in the 2021-2023 pandemic period.

Meanwhile, market disruptions continued in Q2 2025, with shifting volumes and consistent downward pressure on freight rates.

As a result, Sea-Intelligence said the same major shipping lines recorded a combined EBIT of US$2.73 billion during the period.

"This was lower than Q2 in not only 2021-2024, but only slightly higher than in 2020. This meant that, while still profitable, 2025-Q2 was relatively less profitable than most of the recent years," the market data intelligence provider said.

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[Figure 1 shows this metric for the major lines for each Q2 since 2011.
To show operational profitability in container shipping, Sea-Intelligence used the EBIT/TEU figure.]

Sea-Intelligence noted that it is missing a Q2 2025 figure for Yang Ming as they have not published their volumes for this period, and CMA CGM as they have not published a publicly available EBIT for this period. "Furthermore, the y-axis is cut off at US$500/TEU so that current figures are not obscured by the pandemic highs."

All major shipping lines reported positive EBIT/TEU, ranging from US$12/TEU (ONE) to US$249/TEU (OOCL).

The report noted that there were three more shipping lines with an EBIT/TEU of under US$100/TEU: Maersk (US$35/TEU), Hapag-Lloyd (US$53/TEU), and COSCO (US$79/TEU), while there were two shipping lines with an EBIT/TEU of US$100-US$200/TEU: HMM (US$176/TEU) and ZIM (US$167/TEU).

"The 2025-Q2 financial reports also showed a divided Transpacific and Asia-Europe market," said Alan Murphy, CEO, Sea-Intelligence.

"The Asia‑Europe trade recorded strong volume growth, with 3 of the 6 shipping lines that report on Asia-Europe volumes recording double‑digit Y/Y increases. Conversely, the Transpacific trade experienced widespread volume contractions," he added.