Maersk Group to Focus on Shipping, Oil

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Thursday February 26, 2015

Maersk Group CEO, Nils Andersen, Wednesday said in an interview for Bloomberg that his conglomerate will continue to focus on its shipping and oil businesses, despite his expectation that oil prices and shipping rates will remain "under pressure."

While challenges exist for the business, Andersen was upbeat about the group's future prospects in the oil and shipping industries.

"We assume oil prices will stay under pressure this year," said Andersen, adding that he don't expect a near term recovery to anywhere above $100 per barrel.

"We have to adjust our business - we're doing that - [but] being a conglomerate we're not too worried about it."

"[The fact] that there's a low price environment and some reservations in general in the industry, doesn't mean that we can't continue expanding our [oil] business, which is what we are trying to do."

Andersen also said that low oil prices had been a boon for Maersk Line, which today announced a $598 million drop in 2014 bunker costs compared with the prior year.

"Shipping rates will remain under pressure," he said, adding that the group needed to "try to make sure we are very, very competitive."

"We like the shipping business, we think its doing very well at the moment," said Andersen in summary.

Andersen said the group had chosen to divest its 20 percent stake in Danske Bank as part of its focus on core activities and revealed that the bank's majority shareholder had agreed to buy most of Maersk Group's stake at market value.

On Wednesday, Maersk Line posted a 50 percent jump in underlying profits to $2.2 billion for 2014.

Ship & Bunker News Team
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