{"text":[[{"start":8.36,"text":"The chief executive of Maersk called for a big increase in investment in trade infrastructure such as ports, trucks and rail as the world’s second-largest container shipping group raised its full-year profit guidance again."}],[{"start":21.32,"text":"Vincent Clerc, chief executive of the Danish company that transports close to a fifth of seaborne freight, told the FT that a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz would be “a small positive but not meaningful on a global level” for container trade. He added that more volumes were flowing through the nearby Red Sea after years of disruption."}],[{"start":41.24,"text":"Maersk raised its guidance for full-year underlying operating profit from $2bn-$4bn to $4.5bn-$6.5bn after unveiling forecast-beating earnings for the second quarter. Its shares rose 7 per cent in early trading."}],[{"start":57.96,"text":"“What is really driving growth right now is that, after years of extremely strong growth out of the Far East, we are starting to see more and more bottlenecks appearing on the landside, whether it’s terminals, rail, trucks, barges, to actually move the containers to their final destination,” said Clerc. Congestion in ports and on land increases freight rates and Maersk’s profits."}],[{"start":79,"text":"“Since the financial crisis, we have underinvested in infrastructure. I don’t think there is a quick fix today. What it’s going to take to catch up on 15 years of under-investment is a bit of a catch-up cycle on infrastructure investments.”"}],[{"start":92.6,"text":"Maersk is a bellwether of global trade and its pronouncements are closely watched after years of supply chain disruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the effective closure of the Red Sea by Houthi rebels, and most recently the US-Israeli war on Iran that closed the Strait of Hormuz."}],[{"start":109.84,"text":"Revenue in the second quarter increased a fifth to $15.8bn while operating profit almost doubled to $1.6bn. That was significantly ahead of the average analyst expectation of about $700mn."}],[{"start":123.8,"text":"Clerc said that about a third of Maersk’s traffic was now flowing through the Red Sea and Suez Canal again after years of taking the longer route around the south of Africa due to the Houthi attacks. He said he expected a “continued return” to the Red Sea but said it would have little impact on the earnings outlook."}],[{"start":142.34,"text":"He added that the Covid pandemic had shown how much strain was placed on trade infrastructure when there was exceptional demand, but that now bottlenecks were emerging in ports and on land with normal demand."}],[{"start":154.44,"text":"“We’re going to need to look again at what can be done to increase rail and trucking power, because this is not only a terminal issue. There are big issues in Europe, in Brazil, in Africa. It’s likely to take a while and we will see periods of volatility with more frequency,” said Clerc."}],[{"start":171.68,"text":"Maersk’s upgrade is its second this year, and comes after Clerc had repeatedly warned about the dangers of overcapacity in the container industry after rivals bought large numbers of new vessels with their bumper profits following Covid."}],[{"start":185.44,"text":"But he stressed on Thursday that the bottlenecks were now coming from outside shipping, lessening the importance of the rise of capacity in vessel numbers."}],[{"start":194.56,"text":"Maersk’s strong results contrasted with those of container shipping company Hapag-Lloyd."}],[{"start":199.84,"text":"The German group on Thursday said earnings before interest and tax fell 97 per cent to €16mn in the first half of 2026 compared with last year due to “challenging market environment and operational disruptions”, mostly as a result of the on-off closure of the Strait of Hormuz."}],[{"start":218.72,"text":"On Thursday Hapag-Lloyd, which collaborates with Maersk on certain routes, said its outlook was “subject to considerable uncertainty due to the highly volatile development of freight rates” thanks to the Middle East conflict."}],[{"start":231.12,"text":"Despite the disruption, global container transport volumes rose 5 per cent in the first five months of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, the company noted, thanks to “intra-Asia trade and higher export volumes from Asia to Europe and North America”."}],[{"start":251.74,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1786616991_1926.mp3"}