Maersk to abolish 2,000 jobs amid growing freight demand

Maersk announced plans to cut 2,000 jobs due to a major reorganization, where it would integrate its in-land logistics and seaborne container businesses.

Maersk currently has around 80,000 employees.

The company is allocating $100 million for restructuring costs related to the redundancies in the third quarter.

Maersk said that though cargo volumes were still down from last year after falling sharply at the height of the pandemic, they had picked up more than forecasted.

CEO Soren Skou said that the company is on track to deliver a strong third quarter with solid earnings growth across all of its businesses, especially in Ocean and Logistics & Services.

He added that volumes have rebounded faster than expected, freight rates have increased due to strong demand, and that their costs have remained well under control.

Volumes in the Ocean-division dropped by around 3 percent in the third quarter from the same period last year, but above the expected mid-single-digit contraction.

Maersk now expects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) for the full year to be between $7.5 billion to $8.0 billion before restructuring and integration costs, up from an earlier $6.0 billion to $7.0 billion range.