Maersk: Price war is over after tough year

Maersk executives provided a relatively buoyant outlook for the container shipping market following a difficult 2016, in which the conglomerate made a US$1.9bn loss, largely due to write-downs in its oil and service supply units.

Following the result which is Maersk’s second annual loss since the Second World War, the company noted its expectations for an improvement in 2017 as the container shipping industry passes an “inflection point”.

In a conference call with investors, Soren Skou, CEO of Maersk Group, said that the industry price war over freight rates had concluded in the third quarter of 2016.