Major shipping lines have recorded historic profits for a combined EBIT of $41.6 billion in the second quarter of this year, as trends show gradual decline in shipping rates.
The latest analysis from Sea-Intelligence has shown that this result is not only higher than the combined Q2 EBIT of the past 11 years but is also right at the top with the Q4 2021 and Q1 2022 EBIT.
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The firm noted that CMA CGM has not been included in the list as it has only issued a press release so far, which does not list their EBIT; but once the carrier’s EBIT is published, Sea-Intelligence forecasts that this year’s second quarter will likely become the most profitable quarter in the last decade.
“We should stress that we do not mean this as a value judgement on whether shipping lines making money is a good or a bad thing, and we note it has generally been an unprofitable business for the past decade or so,” said Alan Murphy, CEO, Sea-Intelligence.
“We are merely pointing out the unprecedented nature of the current market dynamics.”
“The 2022-Q2 EBIT/TEU figure of each of these shipping lines dwarfs each of the previous years, with the latter hardly relevant in context of the outsized EBIT/TEU numbers that we are seeing right now,” added Murphy.
The figures are backed by a year-on-year increase in freight rates in Q2 2022, according to the firm’s report.
Sea-Intelligence has pointed out that this level of profitability is likely to be discontinued into Q3, due to the fast-falling freight rates, and the slowdown in global demand.
Data from its report outlined reliability increasing by 0.5 percentage points in July 2022 to 40.5 per cent.
