During the initial three months of 2024, the Maersk Group experienced a 13.0% decline in revenues.
+7.0% increase in containerized shipping operating costs
If at the beginning of 2024 other leading shipping companies global containerized companies have seen an increase in economic performance determined by the increase in the value of related to the effects of geopolitical crises, and in attacks on ships in the Red Sea region, and of the Gulf of Aden which have caused a significant reduction in the maritime traffic in the Suez Canal, this is not the case Danish shipping group A.P. Møller-Mærsk at least in the year-on-year comparison.
In the first three months of this year, the Danish group revenues of $12.35 billion, a decrease of -13.0% over the same period of 2023 due to the strong -18.9% decrease in revenues generated by the core business of containerized shipping, amounted to €8.01 billion, while revenues products from other logistics activities marked a increase of +1.0% to €3.50 billion and those produced from terminal activities showed an increase in more pronounced, as they amounted to €999 million dollars (+14.0%).
If in the containerised shipping sector, revenues decreased by -18.9%, with revenue generated by transport of containers, which fell by -20.4% to 6.71 billion and a Revenues from related services decreased by -10.3% to 1.29 billion, operating costs, on the other hand, have grown significantly rising +7.0% to $7.03 billion, a growth to which they contributed, in particular, to the costs of handling loads (€2.39 billion, +5.5%) and fuel costs due to the increase in fuel used by the fleet (€1.79 billion, +18,8%). In the first quarter of 2024, the transport division container shipping reported an EBITDA of €956 million (-71.5%) and a negative operating result for -€161 million compared to an operating profit of €1.97 billion in first quarter of 2023.
In the first three months of this year, the container fleet of the Maersk Group transported cargo volumes of €2.93 million of 40' containers (FEU), with an increase of +7.5% due to the effect of growth and volumes transported on maritime routes East-West (1.33 million FEU, +5.8%), and of those transported on north-south routes (956 thousand FEU, +8.5%) and containers transported on intra-regional routes (645 thousand FEU, +9.5%). In the in the first quarter of 2024, the average value of sea freight rates is Result of 2,367 dollars/FEU (-17.6%), with an average freight rate on East-West routes of $2,706/FEU (-4.2%), a freight rate of Average for North-South routes of $2,758/FEU (-23.9%) and a freight rate Average for intra-regional services of $1,397/FEU (-30.8%). If, in the first quarter of this year, the average price of the fuel paid for by Maersk remained unchanged as it was $625/tonne, the fleet's fuel consumption is increased to 2.8 million tonnes (+15.9%).
If in the first quarter of this year EBITDA and EBIT generated from the Danish group's other logistics activities have decreases of -15.8% and -60.0% respectively as they were $266 million and $54 million, the same items as the Balance sheet of the Group's terminal activities recorded increases of +19.6% and +44.9% having totalled 348 million and 300 million dollars. Maersk has announced that in the first three months of 2024 the port terminals belonging to the group, operated through the Dutch subsidiary APM Terminals, have handled 3.07 million containers (+8.9%).
At group level, the EBITDA and EBIT figures recorded in the first quarter of 2024 amounted to €1.60 billion (-60.4%) and $177 million (-92.4%). A.P. Møller-Mærsk has closed the period with a net profit of €208 million (-91.0%).
Commenting on the latest quarterly results, the administrator Group Delegate, Vincent Clerc, highlighted the improvement in the economic performance compared to the last quarter of 2023: "We have had a positive start to the year," he said. with a first trimester that developed exactly as We expected it. The demand - explained Clerc - is attested towards the upper end of our growth forecasts for and the situation in the Red Sea continues to be unchanged. This not only supported a recovery in the first quarter compared to the previous quarter, but also offered a better outlook for the coming quarters as currently We expect these conditions to remain for the most part of the year. However, at the same time, we expect to whereas the high number of new vessels being delivered over the course of the This year and next will end up counterbalancing these factors and to place maritime transport markets under new control pressure."
