The major shipping lines recorded a combined EBIT of USD 41.6bn in Q2 2022 - Sea-Intelligence
In terms of EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Tax), the major shipping lines recorded a combined EBIT of USD 41.6bn, and this is discounting CMA CGM who have only issued a press release so far, which does not list their EBIT, according to Sea-Intelligence. This not only higher than the combined Q2 EBIT of the past 11 years but is also right at the top with the 2021-Q4 and 2022-Q1 EBIT; once CMA CGM’s EBIT is included in the list, 2022-Q2 would likely become the most profitable quarter in the last decade.
To see just how unprecedented these profits are, figure 1 shows the EBIT/TEU for the carriers that publish both their EBIT and their global volumes. The 2022-Q2 EBIT/TEU figure of each of these shipping lines dwarfs each of the previous years, with the latter hardly relevant in context of the outsized EBIT/TEU numbers. These figures are backed by a Y/Y increase in freight rates in 2022-Q2.
This level of profitability, however, might not continue into Q3, due to the fast-falling freight rates, and the slowdown in global demand.
