Second quarter revenue grows 20 per cent year-on-year to US$15.8bn, with the logistics group substantially upgrading its full-year 2026 guidance
AP Moller-Maersk has called its second quarter (Q2) results “strong” in a financial report released today (13 August), and has raised its full-year guidance.
The logistics group said its second quarter results were driven by high demand, higher spot rates in its ocean division, and growth across all business segments.
Revenue increased 20 per cent year-on-year to US$15.8bn, up from US$13.1bn in Q2 2025, driven primarily by higher revenue in the ocean segment.
EBITDA climbed from US$2.3bn to US$3bn, while EBIT grew to US$1.6bn from US$845m last year.
Maersk said that global demand for transport and logistics remained resilient during the quarter.
”As traffic flows in the Strait of Hormuz were disrupted, inbound cargo to the Gulf was rerouted to alternative ports and through inland transportation routes, with the affected ocean capacity swiftly redeployed to other growing trade lanes,” it stated.
”Growth was particularly strong for imports into Africa, North America and Latin America, supported by continued momentum in exports from the Far East, especially China.”
Ocean spot rates increased ”significantly” during the quarter, it confirmed, driven by demand, the increasing imbalance in trade flows, tight capacity and rising port congestion in Europe, the Middle East, East Coast of South America and West Africa.
“The second quarter was yet another proof point of the new era of heightened volatility we have entered,” said group CEO Vincent Clerc.
”Strong, broad-based demand from the Far East since 2024 has resulted in significantly more unbalanced trade flows, with volume levels that are challenging landside infrastructure capacity.
”From ports to inland transportation, we are seeing increased congestion and disruption across multiple geographies,” he outlined.
”Our global team’s ability to capture opportunities in these difficult markets has enabled us to deliver significant volume and earnings growth across our businesses, leading to the substantial upgrade to our full-year guidance.
” As markets evolve, we remain focused on helping customers respond quickly to change and maintain the integrity of their supply chains,” Clerc noted.
”With bottlenecks remaining deeply entrenched, we must continue to invest in critical trade infrastructure and scale, to keep delivering the best possible value to our customers.”
Maersk said it has updated its full-year 2026 financial guidance on the back of the actual performance in the second quarter of 2026 and improved visibility for the remainder of the year, based on global container market volume growth for the year of around 4 per cent.
The company now expects an underlying EBITDA of US$10.5bn-12.5bn (previously US$8-10bn), an underlying EBIT of US$4.5-6.5bn (previously US$2-4bn), and a free cash flow greater than US$0 (previously at least US$-1.5bn).
