Freight rates begin to firm

APM reshuffles top management
RAY SMUTS
REDUCED FREIGHT rates at the end of last year impacted heavily on container shipping lines, not least Danish shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk which Flemming Dalgaard, outgoing MD for Maersk South Africa, admits have had “a quite negative effect on the net group result.” This is borne out by last month’s announcement from investment bank, Dresdner Kleinwort, that it had adjusted earnings for AP Moller-Maersk as share pressure intensified on the group, estimating per share earnings to drop 20% to DKr4.229 this year. In June Moller-Maersk went public admitting not only that the group’s containership division was struggling - it owns Maersk Line and Safmarine – but that it was reshuffling and strengthening top management. Among the most significant moves was the appointment of former chief financial officer, Eivind Kolding, 46, as joint chief executive of AP Moller-Maersk’s container business, working alongside Knud Stubkjaer, an AP Moller partner and also joint chief executive of Maersk Line. Asked to comment on these developments, Dalgaard told FTW: “Worldwide, freight rates have been dropping quite a bit since the end of 2005/06, which of course has an effect on the net group result and is quite negative. “However, rates have turned around quite a bit since then, come back quite strongly in all trades, and are steadily increasing.”