Our analysis of the financial and volume performance of the shipping lines in Issue 766 of the Sea‑Intelligence Sunday Spotlight shows that 2026‑Q1 presents a challenging financial landscape. Across the shipping lines that have so far reported on their financial figures (minus HMM who have not yet published their 2026‑Q1 EBIT, OOCL who do not publish quarterly EBIT, and CMA CGM, who have stopped publicly publishing EBIT), a combined EBIT of USD 1.35bn was recorded, substantially lower than the USD 5.47bn EBIT of 2025‑Q1.

Looking specifically at profitability per TEU, the figures have plummeted compared to the previous year. For shipping lines reporting on both EBIT and global volumes, only COSCO (169 USD/TEU) and ONE (23 USD/TEU) recorded positive EBIT per TEU figures in 2026‑Q1. Conversely, major shipping lines fell into negative territory; Maersk recorded ‑30 USD/TEU, Hapag‑Lloyd ‑54 USD/TEU, and ZIM dropped to ‑21 USD/TEU. (note: The y-axis of Figure 1 has been cut off at 1,000 USD/TEU, so 2021 does not hide the developments of other years)

This financial slump is not primarily driven by a lack of demand. Global transported volumes remained relatively resilient, with most shipping lines recording slight to moderate Y/Y growth. Instead, the primary driver of the reduced profitability is a significant drop in average freight rates, which fell between ‑9% and ‑26% Y/Y for all reporting shipping lines.

This drop in unit revenue, combined with higher operating costs, has pushed several lines into negative EBIT territory for the quarter.

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 All quotes can be attributed to: Alan Murphy, CEO, Sea-Intelligence.
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