Maersk Back in the Black

A.P. Moller-Maersk upped its 2013 profit forecast late last week, mainly due to the performance of its ocean cargo division, citing lower fuel costs and effective cost cutting measures.

Maersk Line, which controls 15 percent of the world’s container shipping capacity, made a second-quarter net profit of $439 million, compared with $227 million year over year, and significantly exceeding an average analyst forecast of $99 million.

“We deliver a good operational result for the quarter thanks to improved performance in most of our businesses. Maersk Line has made strong and consistent progress and is now an industry leader in terms of profitability,” says Group CEO Nils S. Andersen.
“APM Terminals continues to deliver good results, and Maersk Drilling had its best quarter ever based on strong operational performance.

“Oil production was relatively low, but it has bottomed out now and will return to growth in the second half of the year.

“On Group level, we seek to further advance performance and growth by establishing a fifth core business unit with a target of $0.5 billion by 2016.”

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