Container carriers enjoy eye-watering $110 billion in 2021 operating profit

Global shipping lines made an astounding operating profit (EBIT) of over $110 billion in 2021.

According to analysis by Sea-Intelligence, the combined 2010-2020 operating profit across all years was a combined figure of $37.54 billion, CEO Alan Murphy wrote.

In short, the industry has tripled its operating profit in 2021-FY compared to the past decade, he added.


© Sea-Intelligence
“Just by looking at the chart we can see the absurd nature of the supply/demand situation and the freight rate environment of 2021, dwarfing each of the previous years in terms of EBIT/TEU,” Murphy wrote.

“The previous years are hardly relevant in context of the outsized EBIT/TEU numbers what we are seeing right now.”

In the 2021 financial year, the smallest EBIT/TEU was recorded by Maersk of $686/TEU, whereas the largest EBIT/TEU was recorded by ZIM, of a staggering $1,671/TEU.

On average, the six charted shipping lines netted an operating profit of $861/TEU.

In the entire last decade, the highest average EBIT/TEU of these global shipping lines was $155/TEU in 2010.

The EBIT for container carriers hit the major sum without taking into account HMM and OOCL’s figures, which will add an additional $10-$15 billion to final figures.

The figures also discount privately-held MSC, and PIL due to irregular updates.

Earlier this month Hapag-Lloyd announced it had made $26.4 billion in revenue in 2021.

https://www.porttechnology.org/news/container-carriers-enjoy-eye-watering-110-billion-in-2021-operating-profit/