Container firms have enjoyed massive profits over the past two years, as port backups and consumers buying goods from home drove up prices during the Covid-19 pandemic. Maersk and its peers have been using the money to diversify, strengthening in areas such as air freight and logistics.
A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S agreed to buy Pilot Freight Services LLC forUS $1.68 billion, shoring up its road-transport business while signalling an unprecedented boom in container shipping may be starting to fade.
The deal announced Wednesday coincides with a 2022 profit forecast that falls well below analysts’ estimates. Maersk said it expected a strong first half before a “normalization in ocean” early in the second half.
