Container freight rates might be falling with unprecedented speed, but AP Moller-Maersk chief executive Soren Skou remains optimistic about contract negotiations. Analysts have said lines face some tricky talks over new long-term deals with shippers. But Skou told the Finans daily that his Danish group is in an “absolutely excellent” negotiating position. “Just as we have kept our word and provided the capacity we have sold, we find that our customers want to keep their word to us,” he said. “I know there are many who are now speculating to the contrary. But I don’t see that at all,” the CEO added. Skou believes companies are still looking for long-term contracts, but admits they will not be at the same levels as previously.

Freight rates have been falling for six months. “It is completely unheard of. I’ve gone through all the archives going back decades. It has never happened before that the bottom falls out of rates…so quickly. It can best be compared to a wildfire,” said Bjorn Vang Jensen, vice president of Sea-Intelligence. He argues the falls are a “disaster” for owners, with contract negotiations ahead.

Sydbank analyst Mikkel Emil Jensen told Finans: “We knew full well that the freight rates had been pumped up artificially hard, so it is no surprise that they have come down. But the speeds have surprised most. It looks more like a collapse of freight rates than a normalization.”

Maersk’s annual report for 2021 revealed that a drop in freight rates of $100 per feu would cut $1.4bn from operating profit over a year.