(Feb 5): AP Moller-Maersk A/S plans to cut jobs and focus on cost discipline this year as the container giant seeks to insulate its earnings against deteriorating freight rates with Red Sea routes reopening. The shares fell.
Maersk said it expects underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to be in the range of US$4.5 billion ($5.73 billion) to US$7 billion this year, down from US$9.57 billion recorded in 2025, the company said in a statement on Thursday. Analysts on average estimated US$5.76 billion.
Maersk shares fell as much as 8.1% as trading started in Copenhagen, the most in three weeks.
The 2026 guidance is based on a gradual reopening of the Red Sea, which will free up global vessel capacity. The container line industry had benefited from the extra transport time needed to sail the long route south of Africa, which effectively lowered capacity worldwide by 7%-8% at a time of fierce competition among shipowners for cargo.
“We expect more and more services to go through the Red Sea again, which will free further capacity and we expect this will create a pricing environment that will be under pressure for the shipping division,” chief executive officer Vincent Clerc said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. “We have quite a lot of opportunities on cost, to do more” as “we head into this down cycle on shipping”.
Maersk is planning to cut 1,000 jobs, equivalent to 15% of roles in its corporate functions, but under 1% of total workforce. Annual cost cuts will be US$180 million, the company said. There will be a “very sharp focus on productivity”, including use of artificial intelligence applications, Clerc said.
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Global container trade will grow 2%-4% this year, Maersk forecast, saying it expects to grow in line with that market.
The shipping line also said it’ll start a share buy-back programme of as much as 6.3 billion kroner (US$1 billion or $1.27 billion) to run over the next 12 months.
Danske Bank A/S credit analyst Brian Borsting said of Maersk’s financial guidance that “the low end of the range should be possible even with a full re-opening of the Red Sea”.
See also: Shipping firms face tough 2026 as reopening of Red Sea looms
In December, Maersk made the first transit in almost two years through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait after attacks from Yemen-based Houthis had faded.
Container rates out of Shanghai have dropped more than 40% since a June peak and are set to weaken even further in coming weeks, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. At the same time, the world’s five largest container lines have vessels on order to come in over the next years with a combined capacity of nearly seven million standard 20-foot containers — about 20% of the current global fleet — according to industry consultant Alphaliner.
In the fourth quarter, Ebitda nearly halved to US$1.84 billion compared to the same period last year, Maersk said. Revenue dropped almost 9% to US$13.33 billion.
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