Maersk gains the largest- ever profit by a shipping company

Last updated on February 26th, 2022 at 01:28 pm

Danish shipping giant Maersk on Wednesday published record-breaking profits for the year 2021.

Although the container freight prices continued to rise because of the delay in global chain supply due to the pandemic, Maersk still managed to gain this high profit.
Maersk recorded a net profit of $18 billion or 15.6 billion Euros in the whole year. Following the similar footsteps of 2021, for 2022, they expect the “solid first half” followed by the “normalisation of the sector” in the early second part of the year.
They observed a dip in the shipping demands at the commencement of the pandemic but took a tremendous leap since mid-to-late 2020. In 2021, the sales were up 55% to $61.8 billion, and the ocean container shipping segment rose by 65%.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation
(EBITDA) tripled to $24 billion due to its logistics chain’s lower costs and optimisation. There is also a free cash flow of $16.5 billion, which would allow the company to invest in decarbonisation and logistics growth, including the cash distribution among its shareholders.

“Exceptional market conditions led to record-high growth and profitability in A.P. Moller – Maersk however, it also led to supply chain disruptions and severe challenges for our customers. As a result, we spent tremendous efforts in mitigating bottlenecks by expanding capacity across Ocean, improving productivity in Terminals and growing our global logistics footprint.”, said Søren Skou, CEO of A.P. Moller – Maersk.

Along with strengthening its logistics and services in 2021, it acquired six more businesses in the air, e-commerce, warehousing and fulfilment sectors. In addition, it opened 85 more warehouses to better the product portfolio.
Their digital services also expanded during the pandemic and had a turnover of $38 billion on Maersk.com.

“As Maersk has significantly improved the financial performance and progressed on the strategic journey to become an end-to-end logistics company, we have also been able to increase returns to our shareholders. Therefore, for 2021, the proposed dividend amounts to a truly exceptional DKK 47bn.”, added Søren Skou.

The year 2021 proved to be tremendously great for Maersk, soaring to new heights, gaining profits and achieving milestones in almost every aspect.

Also, read Drewry: Container lines to see a rise in profit up to $200 bn in 2022