Maersk expects container demand growth to slow, raises investment forecast

Maersk expects global demand for container shipping to grow more slowly in the next few quarters as market risks persist while the group’s capital expenditure is set to grow faster, it said on Wednesday, sending the company’s shares down.

The Danish company, viewed as a barometer of world trade, said global container demand had grown about 7% year-on-year in the first half, boosted by strong demand from Europe, emerging markets and strong Chinese exports, among other factors.

“That is a lot and we expect the second half of the year to be less strong,” CEO Vincent Clerc told a press conference.

For the full year, Maersk expects global container market volumes to increase by 4% to 6%, the company said.

It was still unclear if the strong demand was also boosted by restocking by U.S. firms due to concerns that political tensions with China over potential new tariffs following the U.S. presidential election would disrupt trade.

“We could be seeing some pulling forward of demand most notably in North America with the U.S. election in November and the uncertainty about future import tariffs,” Clerc said on an investor call.

The shipping group is in the process of signing orders for 50 to 60 new container vessels for delivery from 2026 to 2030 as part of its fleet renewal, replacing older vessels to keep its overall transport capacity steady, it said.

The company’s fleet, which includes a significant number of chartered vessels, consists of more than 700 container ships, Maersk has said.

The ramped-up fleet renewal programme will boost Maersk’s capital expenditure for the 2024-2025 period by $1 billion to a range of $10 billion to $11 billion compared to the company’s previous guidance of $9 billion-$10 billion, it said.

The company’s share price fell as much as 4.5%, before paring losses to last trade 1.1% lower by 1003 GMT, taking its year-to-date decline to 10.2%. Analysts cited the higher capital expenditure guidance as one of the negative factors.

Maersk also confirmed preliminary second-quarter earnings released last week, when it raised its outlook for the third time since May, citing higher freight rates due to the Red Sea crisis and solid container shipping demand.

Attacks by Houthi militants have drawn U.S. and British retaliatory strikes and disrupted global trade, but Maersk and rivals have benefited from longer sailing times and soaring freight rates as ships are rerouted around Africa.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Stine Jacobsen, editing by Terje Solsvik, Miral Fahmy, Bernadette Baum and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)