The chief of the Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) has warned of difficult times ahead for the shipping industry as economic and geopolitical challenges remain.

Soren Toft, chief executive officer of MSC, made the comment as the industry enters the last quarter of the year.

"The third quarter of 2022 has come to an end, and I would like to share my thoughts on the market and how MSC is developing," Toft said in a social media post.

The MSC chief noted that the big news for the company in the past quarter is developing MSC Air Cargo, which Toft noted, will bring a "new dimension" to the shipping company —  as he added that MSC found a "very strong, very reliable partner in Atlas Air.

Atlas Air will operate the four Boeing 777-200F aircraft of MSC Air Cargo according to its earlier announcement, with operations expected in early 2023 after the first delivery of the aircraft in Q4 2022.

Difficult quarters ahead for shipping industry

Toft said the shipping industry is now seeing some sort of normalization after the unprecedentedly high spot rates over the past months which was driven by supply chain disruptions and other global economic uncertainties.

Following these historically high spot freight prices, rates have started to ease and is now impacting contract rates as shippers seek for renegotiations.

"As I think everyone is aware, the market is normalising," Toft said in his post on October 11.

"But we are also seeing rising inflation, rising interest rates and rising energy prices, so there will no doubt be some difficult quarters ahead," he added.

Despite this, Toft said MSC is further developing solutions to offer its customers — apart from its traditional shipping service, and the recently announced air cargo offering.

End-to-end logistics solutions

"There are lots of reasons to stay positive," Toft said. "We are developing other solutions, not only air cargo, but also on the land side to expand our service offering further," the MSC chief added.

Cash-rich container lines have set sight on air cargo in a bid to diversify across the supply chain and offer end-to-end solutions to their customers.

Aside from MSC, CMA CGM has also launched CMA CGM Air Cargo last year, with a fleet of four Airbus A330-200F freighters and orders for two Boeing 777 freighters.

Maersk also earlier announced the launch of its new air cargo unit, Maersk Air Cargo, earlier this year which it said is in response to demand for global air cargo.