The growth was mainly driven by stocking of goods by the customers in Europe to prevent shortage due to the Red Sea crisis. It has been noted that global container demand increased about 7% year-on-year in the first half of the year, boosted by robust demand from Europe, emerging markets and strong Chinese exports.
“That is a lot and we expect the second half of the year to be less strong,” CEO Vincent Clerc told a press conference. For the full year, Maersk expects global container market volumes to increase by 4% to 6%. Even CMA CGM saw restocking by US firms continuing in the second quarter, partly due to concerns that geopolitical tension with China and that potential new tariffs may disrupt trade.
