SIMIC

AP Moller-Maersk CEO Soren Skou said the company's ocean business reported a 65 per cent increase in revenues driven mostly by high freight rates.

In announcing the staggering results, Mr Skou said the ocean bottlenecks that have disrupted global supply chains should ease around midyear. "We expect quite a strong first half of 2022, and then we expect what we call a normalisation early in the second half."

While saying that market conditions were continuing into the start of 2022, Maersk said that its expectation for the ocean business is for two to four per cent growth in the current year, which would be in line with global demand. The company noted that ocean shipping remains subject to a high level of uncertainty ranging from the current port congestion issues to network disruptions and demand patterns from shippers.

The company continues to use the strong results in 2021 to accelerate its efforts to expand the logistics and services business with its strategy to become a full-service logistics provider to customers.

Maersk completed six acquisitions within air, e-commerce, warehousing, and fulfilment in 2021. In addition, they opened 85 new warehouses. Nearly a quarter of the company's revenues came from the logistics businesses in 2021, reports The Maritime Executive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.