Maersk CEO sees solid container demand through second half
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THE head of A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, the world’s No. 2 container carrier, said he expects global demand for merchandise trade to remain resilient through the rest of the year.
“It has been strong throughout the first half of the year, despite the war and the disruption to energy markets,” Maersk chief executive officer Vincent Clerc said in an interview on Tuesday (Jun 23) in Haiphong, Vietnam. “For us, the expectation is that this in all likelihood right now looks like it’s set to continue into the rest of the year.”
Maersk shares extended gains after his comments were reported, rising as much as 2.5 per cent at 12.27 pm in Copenhagen.
In early May, Clerc said solid demand should continue through the second quarter, though he added at the time that it’s harder to predict later in 2026 given the war in Iran, which has since been suspended under a peace deal with the US.
Reflecting sustained demand heading into peak season for ocean shipping in July and August, spot container rates to move goods to the US and Europe from Asia have surged over the past seven weeks, according to the Drewry World Container Index.
Clerc said the Danish company has five vessels in the Persian Gulf, two of which will remain in service there and three others that “need to get out as soon as possible” under safe conditions. “As soon as it’s safe to return to normal, we will see normalisation,” he said.
On Vietnam, Clerc said that along with Maersk’s partners in the South-east Asian economy, there are “a lot of other things that we can do together to help the agenda of the country, help the development of the country and we look forward to participating to that.” BLOOMBERG
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