Container lines breakeven at current rates – Maersk

COPENHAGEN (Reu-ters): The head of Danish shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk said on most container shipping lines are probably making breakeven results with freight rates at current levels.

Chief Executive Nils Smedegaard Andersen said container freight rates at the end of the first quarter were still at loss-making levels, but had increased since then.

“At end of March, we were still below rates that we saw in 2010 and 2011,” Andersen said in a conference call on the group’s first-quarter results. “Those are the levels we need to achieve to make a profit.”

“My feeling is that, with rates where they are now, most of the liners are probably operating at a more-or-less breakeven position,” Andersen said.

He added that he saw “good hope” that rates would rise during the course of this year.