Maersk Line delivered a profit of US$264 million in the third quarter of 2015, a 61.4 per cent decrease on 2014 results. Overcapacity, lower cargo imports into Europe and historically low freight rates contributed to the decline.
Throughout 2015, the average freight rate has declined due to weak demand, overcapacity and intense price competition. Maersk Line's average rate decreased by 19.2 per cent compared to the third quarter of 2014, and 4.3 per cent compared to the last quarter. In the Asia–Europe trade, rates reached an all time low and trade has contracted by 6.5 per cent over a one year period.
"Our third quarter result is clearly less than satisfactory. This result is driven by much weaker than expected demand and low rates. We will accelerate efforts to drive out cost and we will reduce capacity to increase network utilisation," Søren Skou, CEO of Maersk Line said.
Maersk Line expects the container shipping market to remain weak and not recover in 2015. The company said they expect the rates to remain under pressure due to continued overcapacity. Maersk Line expects global container demand in 2015 to grow by 1.0 to 3.0 per cent against a previous expectation of 2.0 to 4.0 per cent.