Maersk Raises Forecast as Container Demand Picks Up
A.P. Moeller-Maersk raised its profit forecast, saying its container line, the world’s largest, recovered faster than anticipated as freight prices have returned to levels before the global financial crisis, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
Maersk said its full-year net income will exceed the $3.5 billion it reported for 2008. That would be the highest level since the record year of 2004, when the Copenhagen-based company had a $4.69 billion profit, Bloomberg reported.
Maersk last month said it had started production of new containers and leasing of others after an “unexpectedly strong rebound” in demand led to a shortage of equipment, Bloomberg reported.
The new forecast, compared with its May 12 projection for an unspecified profit, is based on the assumption that freight rates, oil prices and the U.S. dollar exchange rates will remain stable, the company said.
Many U.S. trucking companies pick up containers at U.S. ports.
