THE RED SEA conflict continues to boost container line profits with Maersk Line once again raising projections, for the third consecutive quarter.
Ahead of its official release of third quarter results next week, and based on unaudited preliminary figures,
A.P. Møller – Mærsk A/S last night [22 October] reported revenue of USD 15.8 billion, underlying EBITDA of USD 4.8 billion and underlying EBIT of USD 3.3 billion for Q3 2024.
The company said that on the back of the back of the strong third quarter results, combined with strong container market demand and the continuation of the Red Sea situation, it now expects full year 2024 underlying EBITDA of USD 11.0 to 11.5 billion and EBIT of USD 5.2 to 5.7 billion (previously USD 9 to 11 billion and USD 3 to 5 billion, respectively), and free cash flow of at least USD 3 billion (previously at least USD 2billion).
From a somewhat pessimistic outlook at the beginning of the calendar year Maersk has now raised its full-year EBITDA expectation by some USD 5 billion.
Maersk noted that the outlook for the global container market volume growth for the full year 2024 has been revised to around 6% (previously 4-6%).
Meanwhile, in the UK port of Felixstowe the company has celebrated the naming of its latest dual-fuel methanol container vessel Alexandra Maersk, fifth ship in a series of 18 such 16,000+ TEU vessels scheduled for delivery in 2024 and 2025. Each can carry more than 16,000 standard containers (TEU).
While the company has made a strong commitment to methanol as an alternative, low emission marine fuel its latest orders in China are reported to be LNG dual-fuelled, an option Maersk has previously shunned.
