Low Bunker Price Helps Maersk Save $1 Billion in Q1 2016

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday May 4, 2016

AP Møller-Maersk (Maersk) today released its interim 2016 Q1 report, saying its operating expenses had decreased by $1.0 billion year-on-year due mainly to lower bunker prices, as well as cost saving initiatives that included lower oil exploration costs.

Maersk says it paid $178 per metric tonne (pmt) on average in this year's first quarter, half of the $358 pmt it paid in the period last year - a decline that looks to have out-performed the market.

Ship & Bunker data, by contrast, shows the average Global Average Bunker Price for the period in 2016 had declined 45 percent and 35 percent for IFO380 and MGO respectively, compared to Q1 2015.

Maersk Line, the company's box shipping business, returned to the black with a net profit of $37 million, a far cry from the $714 million reported for the period in 2015, but a significant improvement on the $182 million loss reported in 2015 Q4.

The average container freight rate for the period fell some 25 percent to $1,857 per feu, compared to $2,493 per feu in 2015, a drop Maersk said was a contributing factor, along with the low oil price, to a much reduced overall Group profit of $224 million,

This compares to $1.6 billion profit posted in Q1 2015.

Ship & Bunker News Team
To contact the editor responsible for this story email us at editor@shipandbunker.com