AP Moller – Maersk reported an expected US$24 billion record profit last year and has signalled that it is forecasting the same results in 2022 owing to supply chain disruptions that continue to impact the market.

The shipping line saw an EBITDA surge to US$24 billion in 2021, which was in line with its guidance last year. That was nearly three times the US$8.2 billiin seen in 2022.

Its revenues also mounted 55% to US$61.8 billion as persisting supply chain disruption  pushed container rates to record highs in 2021.

During the period, Maersk recorded US$17.96 billion for its core ocean freight business, also up from the US$3.2 billion recorded a year prior.

"Exceptional market conditions led to record-high growth and profitability in AP Moller - Maersk, however it also led to supply chain disruptions and severe challenges for our customers," said Soren Skou, CEO of AP Moller – Maersk.

The liner noted that the average loaded freight rate increased by 66% to US$3,318 per feu (US$2,000 per feu), primarily driven by long-term contracts renewing at significant higher rates, as well as short-term rates driven by strong demand combined with bottlenecks and congestions driving rate increases.

"We spent tremendous efforts in mitigating bottlenecks by expanding capacity across ocean, improving productivity in terminals and growing our global logistics footprint," Skou added.

"We will continue these efforts as we see the current market situation persist into Q2. At the same time, we see conversations with customers change from procurement-led freight rate discussions to more holistic conversations on how we truly partner to keep supply chains running end-to-end. This clearly validates our strategy."

 Maersk expects the current market situation to continue into Q2 2022 with a normalisation to occur early in the second half of the year.

Based on these assumptions Maersk noted that it expects for full year 2022 underlying EBITDA of around US$24 billion — the same level it reported for 2021 —  and underlying EBIT of around US$19 billion. 

"Ocean is expected to grow in line with global container demand, which is expected to grow 2-4 pct. in 2022, subject to high uncertainties related to the current congestion, network disruptions and demand patterns," it said.

For 2022-2023, Maersk noted the expectation for the accumulated CAPEX of US$9 billion to US$10 billion "driven by intensified growth in Logistics & Services and ESG investments."