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Maersk has warned that the impact of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz would be increasingly felt in global trade in the coming months, with the world’s second-largest container shipping line concerned about a potential collapse in consumer demand.
The Danish group said its costs had increased by $500mn per month because of disruption in the strait but that so far it had been able to pass these on to customers through higher freight rates.
Vincent Clerc, Maersk’s chief executive, said that he remained cautious because of the “significant increase in our cost base” coming in the second quarter.
He told Bloomberg TV: “There is a lot of uncertainty if we look further into the year with respect to what are going to be the secondary impacts of this war: inflation, a possible reduction in demand. There are some question marks about how this is eventually going to flow through the economy.”
His views are significant as Maersk is regarded as a bellwether for global trade, carrying one in five seaborne containers.
They came as Maersk reported first-quarter results ahead of expectations due to the limited effect of the US and Israeli attacks on Iran in the first three months of the year. The Danish group maintained its financial guidance for the year, including for container demand to increase by 2-4 per cent, but admitted that the risks were to the downside.
Clerc said that he was worried that a softening in consumer demand could come as higher energy prices bite.
If that happened, Maersk was prepared to adjust its schedules to force its ships to travel slower to use less fuel as well as other cost cuts.
“This is at a different scale from what we have seen before, but the mechanics of it are pretty similar to what we’ve seen in previous oil shocks,” he added.
Maersk reported revenues down 2 per cent to $13bn in the first quarter, and operating profit down by almost three-quarters to $340mn. It maintained its guidance for full-year operating profit to be between a loss of $1.5bn and a profit of $1bn.
The group has previously warned that new vessels ordered particularly by rivals after the post-pandemic boom in container shipping would hurt profitability significantly this year.
Clerc added that the main impact from Hormuz was not on trade, as only about 2-3 per cent of global container volumes were directly affected, but on secondary effects through higher oil prices to economies.
Shares in Maersk were down 4.5 per cent to DKr 14,535 in morning trading.
