AP Moller - Maersk has announced record earnings for 2021, with revenue up 55% to US$ 61.8 billion. Ebitda tripled to US$24bn and free cash flow was US$16.5bn.
This, according to a statement released today, allowed the company to make strategic long-term investments into decarbonisation and logistics growth.
“Exceptional market conditions led to record-high growth and profitability – but also led to supply chain disruptions and severe challenges for our customers. We spent tremendous efforts in mitigating bottlenecks by expanding capacity across ocean, improving productivity in terminals and growing our global logistics footprint,” says CEO Søren Skou.
The company continued to strengthen its logistics & services business, with a revenue increase of 41% to US$9.8bn. Six businesses were acquired within air, e-commerce, warehousing and fulfilment, and 85 new warehouses opened.
“Within ocean, profitability increased substantially, with revenue of US$48.2bn in 2021, compared to US$29.2bn, driven by high freight rates. To increase predictability and reliability, capacity was increased both for equipment and vessels, and significant effort was made to prioritise contracted volumes, with long-term contracts now representing 65%, up from 50% a year ago,” said Skou.
Terminal profitability also grew, driven by strong volume performance and storage income.
The company expects the current market situation to continue into Q2 2022 with a normalisation early in the second half of the year.
Ocean is expected to grow in line with global container demand, which is expected to grow 2-4%, subject to high uncertainties related to current congestion, network disruptions and demand patterns.
