The three-year cycle has now come to an end, of sudden and remarkable growth and then an equally rapid decline in results achieved by all the leading shipping companies of the container sector, which coincided with the phase period of diffusion and then attenuation at the level of of the Covid-19 pandemic, the shipowning group Danish A.P. Møller-Mærsk finished the last part of 2023 with an operating income and an economic result both negative quarterly net results, which was not the case from the second quarter of 2018 and the fourth quarter of 2018 respectively quarter of 2019.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, the group's revenues marked the fifth consecutive quarterly decline as they amounted to 11.74 billion dollars, with a decrease of -34.1% on the same period of the previous year. The downward trend in turnover is dragged down by the reduction in revenues generated by the core business of containerized maritime transport that in the October-December last year were 7.18 billion dollars (-46.0%), of which 5.89 billion (-49.1%) produced from maritime transport activities and €1.29 billion (-24.9%) ancillary activities. The contraction in revenues of the Shipping is a consequence of the reduction in the value of freight rates which, for the Maersk Group, in the fourth quarter of 2023 is was -50.1% as the average shipping rate was equivalent to $1,925/40' container (FEU) vs. $3,869 dollars/feu in the corresponding period of 2022. This is in the face of of a volume of containerised cargo transported by the group that increased by +10.7% to 3.11 million FEU, of which 1.46 million FEU (+17.2%) transported on east-west routes, a market in which the average value of freight rates is Result of $1,818/FEU (-55.3%), FEU 1.00 million (+8.9%) carried by north-south services, an activity for which the Average freight value was $2,702/FEU (-42.6%), and 645 thousand feu (+0.6%) transported on the routes intra-regional, a market that totalled an average freight of the value by $1,405/FEU (-40.3%).

In addition, in the last quarter of last year, revenues generated by the group's logistical activities amounted to $3.54 billion (-8.2%), those produced by terminal activities at €1.02 billion (+2.0%) and revenues from towing services and marine services to 571 million (+0.5%).

In the fourth quarter of 2023, the Maersk Group amounted to $839 million (-87,2%). The operating result was negative and -$537 million compared to an operating profit of €5.12 billion in the last quarter of 2022, with a contribution of -920 million from containerized shipping (profit of 4.82 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022), €60 million from logistics (-56.8), of €234 million from (+0.9%) and €107 million from towing and maritime services (-12.3%).

The Danish group closed the October-December period of 2015. last year with a net loss of -$456 million compared to a net profit of €4.98 billion in the same period of 2019. 2022.

"2023 - commented the CEO today of the group, Vincent Clerc - it was a year of transition following the extraordinary market boom caused by the pandemic. We delivered solid financial results despite the circumstances have changed considerably and we are well placed to manage the difficulties expected in 2024. By taking steps to impose strict cost management, We are adapted to the new reality." Dwelling on the current state of the maritime transport market containerised sector, Mr Clerc noted that, 'if the continues to be characterized by substantial volumes, and while the crisis in the Red Sea has caused sudden restrictions on the capacity and a temporary increase in freight rates, in the end - ha detected - the oversupply of maritime transport will have an impact on our results."

In fact, Maersk expects that if in the 2024 financial year the Volumes of cargo carried by the world's fleets of ships container ships will grow by +2.5%/+4.5%, with those of the group in line with the market, the EBITDA of the Maersk will be $1.0/$6.0 billion compared to to an EBITDA of €9.59 billion in the 2023 financial year. In addition for 2024, EBIT is expected to be negative in the range -5.0/0.0 billion compared to an operating profit of 3.93 billion dollars in 2023, the annual financial year that has just ended in which revenues decreased by -37.4% to 51.06 billion and net profit fell by -86.7% as it was $3.91 billion.

As of 31 December, Maersk's fleet consisted of 672 vessels (707 as at 31 December 2022), of which 310 owned (318) and 362 for hire (389).

Recall that at the beginning of this year the Danish group entered into an operational alliance with Germany's Hapag-Lloyd, called "Gemini Cooperation", which will enter into force at February 2025 immediately after the dissolution of the "2M" alliance between Maersk and Switzerland's MSC and immediately after the exit of Hapag-Lloyd "THE Alliance" with ocean carriers HMM, ONE and Yang Ming ( of 17 January 2024).