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Cyber attack hit Maersk’s volumes, utilisation and unit cost performance

The cyber attack that brought Maersk to its knees in June has dampened full year financial expectations drastically.

The Danish conglomerate released its third quarter results today. The group results were split between transport and logistics – comprising its liner, terminals, towage and logistics divisions and its energy business, which it is in the process of selling off.

Maersk revealed that in its Transport & Logistics side of the business it now anticipates an underlying full-year profit of around $1bn, where as previously it had been hoping for a figure in excess of $1bn. Maersk put this lower number down to the negative impact from the cyber attack in June, which wiped somewhere between $250m and $300m off its books.

The attack hit volumes, utilisation and unit cost performance throughout the third quarter, Maersk reported.

On the container outlook, Maersk stated today: “While demand growth is high compared to the past couple of years, it was still lower than the first half of 2017 and growth is expected to slow further towards the end of the year.”

For the group as a whole underlying profit stood at $248m in the third quarter thanks largely to higher freight rates seen at Maersk Line, the world’s largest container shipping company.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.
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