In a stark downturn, Danish shipping giants, Maersk, reported a significant drop in net profit for the first quarter of 2024.
Amid escalating security concerns due to attacks by Yemeni rebels, the company announced a net profit of just $177 million, a dramatic decline from last year’s $2.3 billion during the same period.
Its revenues also took a hit, decreasing by 13% to $12.4 billion, a figure slightly below the expectations of analysts surveyed by FactSet. Despite these challenges, Maersk has revised its financial outlook upwards for the full year, expecting an underlying core profit of between $4 billion and $6 billion, an increase from its previous projection.
“We had a positive start to the year with a first quarter developing precisely as we expected,” stated Vincent Clerc, Maersk’s CEO. “Demand is trending towards the higher end of our market growth guidance and conditions in the Red Sea remain entrenched,” he added, indicating a complex operating environment.
The region has seen increased tensions as Iran-backed Houthi rebels, controlling significant parts of Yemen’s Red Sea coast, have intensified their maritime assaults since last November, aligning themselves with Palestinians in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. These disruptions have forced a re-routing of shipping paths, affecting a trade route that handles 12 per cent of global commerce.
In response to the heightened threat, the United States unveiled a maritime security initiative last December aimed at safeguarding commercial shipping operations in this key global trade artery.
Clerc remains optimistic despite these adversities, suggesting that the current conditions might “support a recovery in the first quarter compared to the previous quarter, but also provide an improved outlook for the coming quarters, as we now expect these conditions to stay with us for most of the year.”
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