Ocean container carriers are set to earn an all time high profit of $13 billion in 2010 after posting a record loss of $15 billion a year ago, a leading analyst forecast.
Carriers enjoyed their best ever financial quarter in the three months to the end of September with an estimated combined operating income of $6 billion, according to Alphaliner, a Paris-based container shipping consultancy.
This more than offset operating losses of about $4 billion in the same period in 2009.
"The recovery has proven to be swift, and all major carriers will end this year on a profitable note," Alphaliner said.
Alphaliner surveyed 18 major carriers which publish financial results. They earned an average of $560 per transported 20-foot container during the third quarter.
All of the carriers surveyed appear on the list of The JOC Top 40 Container Lines.
The average operating margin reached 15.6 percent in the quarter led by Taiwan's Yang Ming at 21 percent and French carrier CMA CGM with an estimated 21 percent.
Denmark's Maersk Line, the world's largest carrier, had an operating margin of 16.5 percent on the industry's largest third quarter profit of just over $1 billion. Second ranked Geneva-based MSC is privately owned and does not publish financial results.
Malaysia's MISC Berhad was the only carrier to lose money on its container shipping operations in the third quarter.
The record third quarter earnings won't be repeated in the final three months of the year with seasonally lower volumes and falling freight rates "likely to dent the carriers' earnings momentum."
Average spot freight rates on the headhaul Asia-Europe and trans-Pacific routes have declined 18 percent since the third quarter and will remain weak through the rest of the year, Alphaliner said.
Average vessel utilization will fall below the current 85 percent in the fourth quarter but "despite the declining load factors, carriers do remain profitable and hence still refrain from withdrawing capacity."
Carriers enjoyed their best ever financial quarter in the three months to the end of September with an estimated combined operating income of $6 billion, according to Alphaliner, a Paris-based container shipping consultancy.
This more than offset operating losses of about $4 billion in the same period in 2009.
"The recovery has proven to be swift, and all major carriers will end this year on a profitable note," Alphaliner said.
Alphaliner surveyed 18 major carriers which publish financial results. They earned an average of $560 per transported 20-foot container during the third quarter.
All of the carriers surveyed appear on the list of The JOC Top 40 Container Lines.
The average operating margin reached 15.6 percent in the quarter led by Taiwan's Yang Ming at 21 percent and French carrier CMA CGM with an estimated 21 percent.
Denmark's Maersk Line, the world's largest carrier, had an operating margin of 16.5 percent on the industry's largest third quarter profit of just over $1 billion. Second ranked Geneva-based MSC is privately owned and does not publish financial results.
Malaysia's MISC Berhad was the only carrier to lose money on its container shipping operations in the third quarter.
The record third quarter earnings won't be repeated in the final three months of the year with seasonally lower volumes and falling freight rates "likely to dent the carriers' earnings momentum."
Average spot freight rates on the headhaul Asia-Europe and trans-Pacific routes have declined 18 percent since the third quarter and will remain weak through the rest of the year, Alphaliner said.
Average vessel utilization will fall below the current 85 percent in the fourth quarter but "despite the declining load factors, carriers do remain profitable and hence still refrain from withdrawing capacity."