time：2018-06-04 15:20:27

In August 21st, the Maersk Group came up with a heavy message. On the same day, the Maersk Group signed an agreement with Total and Total (Total S.A) will buy the Maersk Oil and Gas with a combined stock and debt transaction of $7 billion 450 million.


The actual profit of Maersk Group has increased slightly, from $201 million in the first quarter to $389 million. However, the two quarter reported profit of -2.64 billion, due to assets impairment of the group's tankers and wharves.


The shipping industry has been on the rebound this year after last year's low price. With the warmer world trade and the relatively rational capacity adjustment of the major shipping companies, the supply and demand of the shipping industry is basically balanced, and the freight rate also presents a recovery trend.


Affected by higher freight rates, Maersk shipping lost its profits in the two quarter.


In the first quarter of this year, Maersk shipping lost 80 million US dollars due to an increase of US $381 million in fuel consumption. The latest earnings report shows that the actual profit of shipping in the two quarter was 327 million yuan.


Overall, however, the price level is still at the "low" level of historical level, and has not been completely released. Most shipping companies are "cautiously optimistic" in the current shipping market, even the number one liner shipping company is no exception.


After the two quarterly report, during an interview with media reporters such as twenty-first Century economic reports, the president of Maersk shipping, China's Greater China, said the only thing that could be judged is that the price will be more stable than the past year.


In the interview, Fang Xuegang also talked about the recent impact of network attacks on the group, the cooperation with the e-commerce platform and the acquisition of Hamburg South America, and explained the strategy of Maersk in the integration of the cluster.


It is worth mentioning that, although the Group expects network attacks to have a negative impact of $2-3 billion on the third quarter earnings, Fang stressed that the group reiterated its earnings forecast for the whole year of 2017, that is, the actual profit of the shipping and logistics sector is over $1 billion (excluding the impact of the purchase of Hamburg South America).


Container demand will increase by 2%-4%


In the two quarter of 2016, Maersk shipping suffered a real loss of $139 million, which turned out to be a deficit in the same period last year.


Fang Xuegang said that this year's world trade is better than expected, European and North American demand has been resumed, ship companies are also more self-regulated in capacity allocation, making the industry at present a balance between supply and demand, freight has also gone out of last year's low.


From the market fundamentals, Maersk said the demand for the second quarter of this year increased by 4%, the design supply capacity increased by 1.4%, and the freight rate rose by 7.6%. Compared with the same period in 2016, the volume of transport increased by 1.7% and the freight rate increased by 22%.


However, the demand for import and export is different. Data show that the export of Maersk shipping from the Far East to Europe / North America has increased by 5.2%, but because of its low attraction on some routes, the volume of imports has been reduced by 5.6%.


"Maybe there will be signs of fluctuations in individual quarters, but the overall trend will be better." Fang Xuegang disclosed that the price increase of some raw materials led to a reduction in import volume, while beer and other consumer goods maintained strong growth momentum.


On the whole, he believes that the global container shipping demand is expected to grow from 2% to 4%, and will be at a higher position in this area.


With the gradual recovery of container prices and the increase in volume, Maersk shipping reiterated the actual profit expected this year, that is, the growth of more than $1 billion in 2016 (a loss of $384 million in 2016).


Other business units in the shipping and logistics business sector, including Maersk wharf, Damascus logistics, Maersk tug and maritime salvage, and Maersk Container Industry Co., Ltd., are expected to be flat in 2017 ($500 million in 2016).


In addition, at the end of June, the Maersk Group was attacked by the network malware "Not Petya", and the system was severely damaged, especially for container shipping, wharf and Dan marshih. But Maersk said that from the forecast of shippers and themselves, earnings expectations remained unchanged.


"Our business and volume will be affected in the next few weeks after the attack, which will also be reflected in the third quarter's performance." Fang Xuegang said that the loss is estimated at 2-3 billion US dollars, and there will be some operational costs in addition to the order quantity.


According to him, Maersk has recovered all systems and has not lost any data.


Initial display of integration effect


In the second half of last year, the Maersk Group proposed an institutional reform plan, and the various business groups of the shipping and logistics business sectors began to integrate. Fang Xuegang said that the integration is still advancing according to the plan, and it is expected that the return of investment capital will increase by 2% at the end of 2019.


In addition to the actual profit of $327 million for Maersk shipping, the Maersk wharf's actual profit in the two quarter of this year was $98 million, a year-on-year decline of 11 million dollars.


Although Maersk says that the decline in Wharf's profit is affected by the exchange rate and tax, it is due to the profit bearing of the marine products and the higher investment in product development, but only from the profit data, the integration effect seems to have not appeared yet.


Fang Xuegang said that the integration work has just begun, and many synergies have not yet been played, but from the current performance, the integration effect has begun to appear. Maersk shipping increased by approximately 7- in Maersk docks.