The clouds over the container shipping industry are getting darker as Maersk announces losses in its shipping division in the fourth quarter of 2025, following the footsteps of Japan's Ocean Network Express.

Maersk's CEO, Vincent Clerc, acknowledged that 2025 was impacted by "constantly changing geopolitical" issues affecting supply chains and global trade. The Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) of Maersk's shipping division reported a loss of $153 million, a significant decrease from $567 million in the previous quarter and a substantial reduction compared to $1.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Maersk plans to initiate a stock buyback program worth 6.3 billion Danish Krone (approximately $1 billion).

With container freight entering a downturn, freight rates and carrier revenues will face downward pressure. A recent report by Drewry warned that with rates normalizing and a significant number of new vessel deliveries, the industry is approaching a "structural reset."

Consulting firm AlixPartners is calling on shipping companies to strictly adhere to capital discipline this year, especially in managing capacity and costs.

The outlook for the shipping industry this year largely depends on how quickly the industry can resume large-scale transits through the Suez Canal. According to data from the freight rate platform Xeneta, global container shipping capacity could effectively increase by 6% to 8%.

Maersk Group has a wide range of forecasts for the full-year group Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) in 2026, depending on the time it takes to resume large-scale transits through the Suez Canal. They anticipate the EBIT for 2026 to fall between a loss of $1.5 billion to a profit of $1 billion.