Comment / Mærsk: from black to red (soon) – once a carrier, always a carrier

ID 22513242 © Bojan Dedic | Dreamstime.com

Many moons ago, as a neophyte starting to look at transport and logistics, I soon understood the narrative surrounding ocean carriers. It didn’t take a lot to get it ten years ago.

Troubled to make money; highly dependant on the business cycle to prop up razor-thin operating margins; seldom making their return on invested capital; swamped in debt and often selling peripheral assets for a prompt liquidity injection: welcome to the container shipping of the pre-pandemic decade.

Then, in late 2018 Denmark’s AP ...