COPENHAGEN, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Danish oil and shipping group A.P. Moeller-Maersk on Friday cut its economic expectations for 2015, citing weaker-than-expected market conditions.
Maersk now expects an underlying result of around 3.4 billion U.S. dollars as against the earlier forecast of around 4 billion dollars, it said in a statement.
The previous expectation, as announced in the Q2 report, was based on an underlying result contribution from the group's container-shipping arm Maersk Line of above 2.2 billion U.S. dollars, while the new expectation is based on an underlying result in Maersk Line of around 1.6 billion U.S. dollars, the company said.
According to the group's sensitivity guidance for the second half of 2015, a general decline in the freight rate of 100 USD/FFE (forty-foot equivalent unit) will impact Maersk Line's result negatively by around 0.5 billion U.S. dollars, and that a volume reduction of 100,000 FFE will have a negative impact of around 0.1 billion U.S. dollars.
Maersk said the container shipping market has deteriorated beyond expectations especially in the later part of Q3 and October, adding that it expects no market recovery within 2015.
It maintained the guidance for all other business units, and initiatives have been taken to adjust Maersk Line's network accordingly.
