The world’s biggest container operator said its underlying loss widened to $239m from a loss of $139m a year earlier, with Chief Executive Soren Skou blaming rampant overcapacity as the main culprit and warning that a trade war between the U.S. and China would dash any hopes of a recovery in the shipping industry after a long down cycle.
“In the short term we will be closing down some services,” Skou said in an interview. “Overcapacity is the biggest defect.”
Maersk shares were down 7.9 percent to 9,350 Danish kroner (about $1,480) on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange.
Maersk reported a net profit of $2.75bn, compared with a profit of $245m in the same period last year, but the gain came from the sale of two units, Maersk Oil and Maersk Tankers.
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