APMM announces a profit of $ 120 million in Q4 18, but does not have high hopes for the new year

AP Møller Maersk posted underlying earnings of $ 120 million in the fourth quarter of 2018, bringing its annual profit to $ 220 million.

But the Danish transport and logistics group is pessimistic in its outlook.

Soren Skou, chief executive, said the disappointment forecast of 1 to 3 percent for 2019 was due to "uncertainties related to the global macroeconomic outlook", including trade tensions, slowing in China and Europe, the IMO. 2020 and the potential benefits of Brexit.

"Two months in the year and there is a lot of uncertainty," said Mr Skou.

Maersk's revenue for 2018 was 26% higher than the previous year, at $ 39 billion, mainly due to the acquisition of Hamburg Süd, which had been integrated "better than expected", realizing synergies of $ 420 million.

Total ocean stocks jumped 21.6% to 26.6 million teu, but excluding Hamburg Süd figures, the increase was below market parity of 2.5%, due to a "Focus on profitability" in the second half, then of its Asia-North Europe loops.

Average freight rates increased 5.1% to $ 1,879 per year. However, excluding South Hamburg, fares increased by only 1.9% or $ 34 per 40 feet.

At the same time, the costs of the bunker jumped by 32% compared to 2017, adding $ 1.2 billion to costs, which, according to Maersk, was "not fully compensated" by the BAF surcharges. .

Ocean revenue grew 29% to $ 28.4 billion, including nearly $ 1 billion in demurrage and holdbacks, while Maersk Line "tightened" its recovery policy and also enjoyed a "bonanza" of final congestion in Los Angeles. Long Beach Terminals.

Chief Operating Officer Soren Toft confirmed that Maersk's capacity would remain stable at around 4 million TEU, although it could increase by a few percentage points when the impact of new low-level network changes 2M speed is taken into account and adjustments are planned. made for short term charter to cover ships that are temporarily taken out of service for the modernization of the washers.

Maersk reiterated that he had no plans to order new ships before "at least 2020" and had begun renting more containers instead of buying, thus reducing his liability in capex.

The commercial director, Vincent Clerc, said the rates had finished the year 2018 "in a much better condition" than the year before, up about 7%, which would have allowed " a better climate "for Asia-Europe annual tariff negotiations.

Similarly, he expects the new Pacific contracts, renewed from May, to benefit from a more robust spot market.

However, Clerc warned that about 50% of Maersk Line's operations were now short-term and fixed monthly and could therefore be subject to rate volatility.

Maersk's Logistics and Services division, which includes its new supply chain management sector, saw revenues increase by 2% to $ 6.1 billion, but was reduced by $ 20 million from the previous year. restructuring costs for an EBITDA of $ 98 million and an "unsatisfactory" margin of 1.6%.

Skou said Damco, which had been "separated from the rest" as an autonomous freight forwarder on January 1, had "a mission: to become profitable".

Terminals & Towage, which includes APM Terminals, saw its containers handling in its facilities climb by 11.8% in one year, reaching 11.4 million euros. As a result, divisional revenues increased 8.4% over the previous year to $ 3.77 billion, representing a 22% increase in EBITDA to $ 778 million, and margin of 20.6%.

Maersk attributed this robust performance to "close collaboration between the gateway terminals and Maersk Line and Hamburg Süd", which resulted in a 17% increase in the number of terminal launches to 4.1 million teu.