Another incredible year in store for box lines, but what happens in 2023?

THE chief executives of the big ocean container shipping lines must still be pinching themselves to check what they have been experiencing over the past year-and-a-half or so is real.

For example, AP Moller-Maersk (Maersk) expects 2021 full-year earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit) of US$19 billion.

The contrast with the recent past is stark. That would mean earnings for 2021 of more than the previous five years put together. More than that, liner shipping has never really earned its keep since the advent of containerisation.