SIMIC

"Our earnings and cash flow enable us to further accelerate our transformation, and invest in growing the business, also through targeted acquisitions," said Maersk CEO Soren Skou.

"The acquisitions we have made are all based on taking a portfolio of products these companies have and supercharge the growth by selling it to our ocean clients, and we have done that very successfully," he said.

Mr Skou said Maersk expanded its contracted cargo base, lengthened contract duration, and increased the provision of non-ocean logistics services, justifying and accelerating its five-year transformation into an end-to-end integrator.

More than one million FEU of that volume has now been signed up for multi-year contracts, according to Maersk chief financial officer Patrick Jany.

"We have now negotiated almost all of our long-term contracts for the year," he told analysts, adding that during the first quarter, contracts were renewed with an average increase of $500 per container. Those contracts signed in the second quarter showed an increase of $800 per container.

The quarter was marked by the purchase of two business-to-consumer e-commerce specialists, Visible Supply Chain Management in the US, and B2C Europe.

The carrier highlighted strong growth through the second quarter where 58 per cent of the organic revenue growth was from its top 200 customers, which it called "clear proof" of the strategy's success.

Maersk's earnings report showed the positive momentum seen in the past quarters in its Logistics & Services division continued in Q2, with revenue growth of 38 per cent year over year to $2.2 billion.

But traditional ocean revenue continues to be the biggest profit and revenue driver, as the carrier capitalises on record Asia-US container rates and an overall tightening of capacity on other major trades.

For the first half, Maersk reported revenue of $26.7 billion, up 44 percent year over year. EBITDA was up 183 per cent at $9.1 billion, while EBIT increased 451 per cent to $7.2 billion.