Maersk Ready to Weather any Storm, Says CEO

 

Of late, the shipping industry has been dogged by overcapacity - following a boom in ship orders that coincided with the economic downturn - and the subsequent decline in freight rates, he said.

 

But, he doesn't want other companies to leapfrog Maersk and to be more aggressive on investments. "So we are going to defend our market-leading position and that means we will expect to grow a little bit ahead of the market in most year," he said.

 

Nils admitted that the shipping industry environment was currently "pretty difficult." Maersk Line's net profit had fallen 7.3 percent year-on-year, to $507 million (from $547 million) on the back of falling freight rates in the second quarter financial results released in August.

 

Nils believed that the problem of overcapacity might be added to by the new delivery of ships equating to 9 percent of the total global fleet. "Trade is only growing somewhere between 2 percent so over capacity is increasing," he said.