Maersk Line Post Q1 Losses of $599 million

Continued uncertainty in the global economy will affect the Group's financial outlook for 2012.

Danish shipping giant Maersk Line, part of A.P. Møller – Mærsk A/S (Maersk Group), has reported losses of $599 million for the first quarter of 2012.

The figure exceeds the entire loss of $554 million for 2011 quoted in their Q1 Interim Report with the poor results blamed on higher bunker costs and lower prices for freight.

Despite the company’s 18% increase in freight volume, average container rates slumped by 9% compared to a year ago.

The firm's future outlook for the liner business in 2012, which is Maersk Group's largest operating unit, is negative up to a neutral result, adding it expects global demand for seaborne containers to increase by 4-6% for the year.

Significant increase

The group picture was better, and as a whole Maersk Group made profits of $1.2 billion, due in part to income from settling an Algerian tax dispute, and divestment gains.

Maersk Group's APM Terminals, which took over operations for Skandia in Gothenburg, Sweden, at the start of the first quarter, made a significant increase, posting profits of $235 million compared to $141 million in the same period for 2011.

Maersk Drilling made $125 million, up $3 million from Q1 last year and the company said that four new contracts signed for the Brazilian and African deepwater markets provide a positive outlook for 2012 and 2013.

Group CEO Nils S. Andersen said that although the Group’s net result was comparable to last year, they “were not satisfied” with the company’s operational performance for Q1, but that a rise in container rates was “paying off.”