Maersk ceo upbeat on transpac and Asia - Europe rate hikes

Skou said that he was more confident on the growth of the US market than Europe. “Right now we are in the middle of contract negotiations on the transpacific and I am very confident we will see good sized increases in this market. We definitely need them as rates have been stagnant for a long time, with a dip in 2009,” he told a media briefing in Singapore on Monday.

The annual contracting season on the transpacific mainly concludes in May, Skou did not give a quantum of increase expected.

In terms of market growth the line is expecting to see 2 – 3% growth in the US.  “The US economy is showing fairly positive signs, we have the stock market setting new records, a real estate market that is turning around, interests rates are low… so we are quite positive on the US despite the fact fiscal cliff discussions are not done yet,” Skou explained.

On Asia – Europe where rates move on a more quarterly basis most carriers have announced increases in the range of $650 - $700 per teu from this Friday, 15 March.

“We have big test coming up next Friday,” he noted. “I’m actually fairly confident the rates will go up on 15 March. The key question is whether the industry will be able to hang to those rate increases for any significant period of time.”

Skou was more downbeat on the outlook for market growth in Europe “We are not expecting any growth. The economy in Europe is still bad shape,” he said.

The real bright spot remains the North – South trades. “Where we are seeing the market growing, more than 5%, is on the North – South trades Asia – Africa, Asia to Latin America