The world’s leading ocean carrier Maersk Line boosted its profit to US$685 million in the third quarter of 2014, up from $554 million in the same period a year ago, achieved through lower costs and higher freight rates.
The container liner also saw its volume numbers inflate by 3.7% compared to the third quarter of 2013.
This shored up Danish shipping and oil conglomerate A.P. Moeller-Maersk’s profit to $1.5 billion for the quarter, a 25% growth from $1.2 billion in the same period a year ago.
The result for the third quarter was positively impacted by $215-million after-tax gains from divestment of APM Terminals Virginia, Portsmouth, U.S., and Maersk Drilling divesting the activities in Venezuela with a gain of $73 million after tax. However, these were countered by impairments in APM Terminals of $74 million.
The underlying profit for the group was $1.3 billion, flat with last year, while revenues improved only marginally.
The group confirmed its 2014 outlook of an underlying profit of $4.5 billion, excluding discontinued operations, impairment losses and divestment gains, from 2013’s $3.8 billion, and raised the forecast for its Maersk Line operations.
“We are very satisfied with the result for the 3rd quarter of 2014 where we achieved an underlying profit of USD1.3bn, driven by operational improvements in Maersk Line, Maersk Oil and APM Terminals,” said group CEO Nils S. Andersen.
He said that for the first nine months of the year, the group’s underlying result improved by $729 million, up 25 percent compared to same period last year.
“We are well positioned to take advantage of opportunities materializing in a volatile macroeconomic environment, and despite some caution in relation to the market outlook for the coming quarters, we maintain our outlook for the group result to be around USD4.5bn for the year,” he continued.
Increased underlying profits were in particular achieved for Maersk Line, Maersk Oil, and APM Terminals, while those were lower for Maersk Drilling and APM Shipping Services.
Group revenue increased by 0.7%, as container volumes and freight rates inched up and oil entitlement production increased, partly offset by a lower average oil price.
Maersk Line, seen as an international trade bellwether, now expects profit for the full year to be significantly above 2013 by exceeding $2 billion, an upgrade from previous expectations of $1.5 billion.
But it forecasts lower global shipping demand, which is now expected to grow by 3% to 5% from the previous prediction of 4% to 5%.
“The group’s guidance for 2014 is subject to considerable uncertainty, not least due to developments in the global economy, the container rates and the oil price,” a company statement declared.
