Maersk shares rose 9.4% on Thursday after the Danish shipping group reported second-quarter earnings well above expectations and raised its full-year forecast again. A.P. Møller – Mærsk said revenue increased by 20% year on year, while higher freight rates and strong demand helped the company overcome additional costs caused by disruptions in the Middle East.
The rally added DKK 21.6 billion (€2.89 billion) to Maersk’s market value during the day, according to DR, citing MarketWire.
Maersk shares rise after earnings beat forecasts
The market reaction followed results that were considerably stronger than analysts had expected. Maersk reported revenue of $15.8 billion in the second quarter, up from $13.1 billion a year earlier.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, or EBITDA, reached $3 billion, compared with $2.3 billion in the same period of 2025. A company-compiled analyst poll had expected about $2.12 billion, according to Reuters.
Operating profit, or EBIT, increased from $845 million to $1.6 billion, while DR reported that profit after tax more than doubled to around $1.3 billion.
The improvement was driven primarily by Ocean, Maersk’s core shipping division. Its revenue increased by 23%, transported volumes rose by 4.1% and the average freight rate increased by 22% compared with the previous year.
Congestion and Asian exports are pushing freight rates higher
The results come despite continued disruption to global shipping caused by the conflict in the Middle East. Maersk said traffic through the Strait of Hormuz had been disrupted during the quarter, forcing cargo to be redirected through alternative ports and inland routes.
At the same time, strong exports from the Far East, particularly China, have contributed to increasingly unbalanced trade flows and congestion at ports and other logistics infrastructure. Reuters reported that waiting times for ships to berth in Shanghai have reached as much as 12 days.
According to Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc, these infrastructure bottlenecks, rather than the Middle East conflict itself, are currently one of the main factors pushing freight rates higher.
“The second quarter was yet another proof point of the new era of heightened volatility we have entered,” Clerc said in the company’s results statement.
The company said average bunker fuel prices rose by 44% year on year and operating costs in Ocean increased by 19%, but higher freight rates and commercial measures more than compensated for these additional costs.
Maersk raises its 2026 forecast again
Following the stronger quarter, Maersk raised its full-year guidance for the second time since June.
The company now expects underlying EBITDA of $10.5 billion to $12.5 billion in 2026, compared with its previous forecast of $8 billion to $10 billion. Expected underlying EBIT was raised from $2 billion-$4 billion to $4.5 billion-$6.5 billion.
The forecast assumes that global container market volumes will grow by around 4% in 2026.
The revision represents a substantial change from the outlook at the beginning of the year. In February, Maersk had warned of weaker earnings amid excess shipping capacity and announced plans to cut up to 1,000 jobs as part of a programme intended to reduce annual costs by $180 million.
The second-quarter figures show how rapidly conditions have changed. Persistent demand, congestion and higher freight rates have improved Maersk’s profitability, but the company continues to describe the shipping market as unusually volatile. For investors, Thursday’s 9.4% increase in Maersk shares reflected both the scale of the earnings surprise and expectations that the stronger conditions could continue into the second half of 2026.
