SIMIC

A Sea-Intelligence reports shows that the combined operating profit of the global carriers (those that provide financial information) was US$43.9 billion in 2022-Q1.

"Putting it into perspective, this Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) is not only higher than the combined Q1 EBIT of the last 12 years, but it is also higher than the 2021-Q3 EBIT, which in itself was a bumper peak season," said Alan Murphy, CEO, Sea-Intelligence.

Furthermore, all of the carriers have more than doubled their EBIT year on year, and most of the carriers have doubled their EBIT compared to their respective combined EBITs since 2010, the reports showed.

Four carriers recorded EBIT in 2022-Q1 of over $5 billion, with CMA CGM recording the largest $7.64billion, followed by Maersk with an EBIT of $7.07billion, Cosco with $6.26 billion, and ONE Line with an EBIT of $5.23 billion.

"The unprecedented nature of the current supply/demand situation and the freight rate environment is clearly evident, with the 2022-Q1 EBIT/TEU figure of each of these shipping lines dwarfing each of the previous years," Mr Murphy added.

He said "this level of profitability is not driven by a volume growth, as apart from Zim (+5.0 per cent), all other carriers that report global volumes either recorded sharp year-on-year declines, or in the case of Hapag-Lloyd, a marginal 0.4 per cent increase. This level of profitability is more so a reflection of the current freight rate environment".