Maersk continues to suffer

With its tanker and oil and gas businesses hurt by rate and price declines and unable to compete with low cost rivals in Asia, the group has decided to phase out ship construction at Odense Steel Shipyard in Denmark as existing orders are completed.

The group anticipates similar results during the second half of 2009. It points to the continued economic outlook and specific concerns about container freight rates, cargo volumes, the US dollar exchange rate and oil prices.

Nevertheless, Group CEO Nils Andersen stresses that the company is “still financially strong despite the fact that the economic crisis has developed worse than we anticipated” [and that] “most of its business units are doing better than the market