Global container shipping industry posts $9.9b net income in Q1 2025

The global container shipping industry achieved a net income of US$9.9 billion in the first quarter of 2025, indicating a US$5.7 billion or 36.4 per cent decrease from Q4 2024.

The Q1 2025 net income was US$4.5 billion or 82 per cent higher than the US$5.4 billion figure in Q1 2024.

However, John D. McCown, container shipping expert and Non-Resident Senior Fellow at US-based think tank Center for Maritime Strategy, said that Q1 2025 witnessed, "the second straight sharp decline," following three consecutive quarters of significant increases in bottom line after Q4 2023.

Capacity tightening caused by developments in the Red Sea resulted in the US$5.4 billion profit in Q1 2024. McCown said this figure was doubled in Q2 2024 and then, "more than doubled again," the following quarter.

McCown forecasts that the industry's Q2 2025 earnings, "will come in at from half to two-thirds," of Q1 2025 earnings, from US$5 billion to US$6.6 billion, which would be noticeably below the US$10.2 billion net income achieved in Q2 2024 when the sector was halfway through its upward earnings trend as a result of Red Sea developments.

McCown concluded by saying the remainder of 2025 will be among, "the most eventful periods ever," for the industry, as it will be characterised by, "lots of twists and turns."