Maersk posts ocean loss, 1,000 job cuts as container boom unwinds

Maersk posts ocean loss, 1,000 job cuts as container boom unwinds
Sam Chambers February 5, 2026 https://splash247.com/maersk-posts-ocean-loss-1000-job-cuts-as-container...

The dark clouds swirling around the container shipping industry intensified today with Maersk following Japan’s Ocean Network Express, in announcing its ocean division had slipped into the red for the final quarter of 2025.

The Danish shipping giant also revealed today it will lay off 1,000 staff this year as cost discipline rises up the corporate agenda of most global liners faced with a deteriorating freight rate environment.

Vincent Clerc, Maersk’s CEO, conceded 2025 had been a a year where supply chains and global trade continued to be reshaped by what he described as “evolving geopolitics”.

Maersk’s ocean division reported an EBIT loss of $153m, down from $567m in the previous quarter, and massively down on the $1.6bn recorded in Q4 24.

The shipping group also announced a DKK6.3bn ($1bn) share buyback scheme.

Carriers must execute aggressively on cost-saving programs

Japanese liner Ocean Network Express (ONE) set off alarm bells last week, reporting an operating loss of $84m and net loss of $88m in the fourth quarter of 2025, with CEO Jeremy Nixon conceding his company faces a “challenging operating environment”.

“Freight rates have continued to slip ahead of the Chinese New Year holidays and the carriers’ ability to stop the rate slump will continue to be tested in the coming months,” analysts at Linerlytica suggested earlier this week.

“Container freight is poised for a downcycle – putting downward pressure on rates and carrier revenue – as an unprecedented wave of new vessel capacity continues to enter the market,” states a recent report from container booking platform Freightos.

Drewry’s recently published 2026 Financial Health Check for liner shipping has warned that the sector is nearing a “structural reset” as freight rates normalise and pandemic‑era windfalls evaporate and a massive newbuilding orderbook delivers.

Drewry has urged liner companies to trade the boom mindset for tighter financial and operational stewardship to navigate a what it sees as an impending tougher, lower‑margin cycle.

American consultancy AlixPartners has also called on liners to maintain strict capital discipline this year.

“With freight rates reverting toward pre-Suez crisis lows and shippers pressuring liners to transition back to the Suez Canal, carriers must execute aggressively on cost-saving programs while managing capacity through slow-steaming and vessel idling,” the company advised, adding: “The carriers’ strong balance sheets provide a crucial buffer, but capital discipline will be needed to avoid repeating the value-destructive boom-and-bust cycles of the past.”

Much of this year’s liner fortunes will depend on how quickly the industry returns en masse to transiting the Suez Canal.

A large-scale return to shorter sailing distances via the Suez Canal would effectively free up 6-8% of global container shipping capacity, according to data from Xeneta, a freight rate platform.

Maersk, for instance, has a wide range in its full-year 2026 group EBIT forecast predicated in no small part on the timing of a return to the Suez. Maersk is forecasting an EBIT for 2026 ranging from a $1.5bn loss to a $1bn profit.

“The ranges reflect the expected overcapacity in the shipping industry and scenarios of a gradual Red Sea reopening in 2026,” the company explained today.