The first nine months of the year have delivered significant insights into the state of global container shipping, with industry giants COSCO, Maersk, and Ocean Network Express (ONE) releasing their latest financial and operational results. As shifting demand patterns, evolving trade routes, and ongoing geopolitical challenges continue to shape the maritime landscape, these carriers’ performance offers a clear snapshot of current market dynamics, and what may lie ahead. In this article, we break down the key takeaways from each liner’s 9-month results and explore what they mean for shippers, partners, and the wider logistics sector.
CoscoSH’s posts USD 2.8 billion profit in 1H25
During the first nine months of this year, Cosco Shipping Holdings’ container shipping turnover (from Cosco Shipping Lines and OOCL) contracted by 4% in Chinese Yuan to CNY 167.6 billion (USD 23.5 billion). Operating profit went down by 29% to CNY 36.9 billion (USD 5.2 billion) and consolidated net profit (attributable to shareholders) fell by 29% to CNY 3.8 billion (USD 3.8bn). Despite the falls, these are still big figures. However, for Q3 specifically, the decline of net profit was an even steeper 64%, so further pressure in 4Q could squeeze these full-year results even more.
| ’25/’24 | 9M25 | 9M24 | 3Q25 | 3Q24 | |
| Revenue | -6% | 23,529 | 24,918 | 8,907 | 11,310 |
| Opr. profit/loss | -30% | 5,183 | 7,433 | 2,820 | 5,124 |
| Net profit/loss | -30% | 3,800 | 5,436 | 983 | 2,749 |
| Carryings (TEU) | 6% | 20,184,300 | 19,039,700 | 6,903,400 | 6,903,400 |
| Rev/TEU (USD) | -11% | 1,166 | 1,309 | 1,290 | 1,719 |
| Opr/TEU (USD) | -34% | 257 | 390 | 408 | 783 |
| Opr. Margin | – | 22.0% | 29.8% | 31.8% | 46.3% |
(Converted million USD. 1H 2024 financial comparatives restated)
The consolidated liftings of Cosco Shipping were up by 6% to 20.2 million TEU. This followed improvements across all corridors with China domestic and ‘Other’ routes posting double-digit percentage growth rates. With a rise of 1%, Transpacific volumes increased only marginally. The underlying performance of CoscoSL only, i.e with OOCL removed, saw a slightly better growth rate of 7% with the China domestic (which is purely CoscoSL) and ‘Other’ trades again growing the fastest.
| Carryings Cosco group | Share 2025 | Growth ’25/’24 | 9M25 TEU | 9M24 TEU | 9M23 TEU |
| Europe-Far East | 15% | 4% | 2,957,200 | 2,854,800 | 3,314,400 |
| Transpacific | 18% | 1% | 3,622,900 | 3,569,500 | 3,179,700 |
| Intra Asia | 34% | 4% | 6,815,100 | 6,555,300 | 5,879,400 |
| China domestic | 22% | 12% | 4,430,200 | 3,951,000 | 3,127,500 |
| Other | 12% | 12% | 2,358,900 | 2,109,200 | 1,954,600 |
| Total | 100% | 6% | 20,184,300 | 19,039,800 | 17,455,600 |
| CoscoSL only | 100% | 7% | 14,311,000 | 13,430,400 | 11,989,900 |
| Europe-Far East | 13% | 6% | 1,905,300 | 1,797,700 | 2,108,200 |
| Transpacific | 14% | 0% | 2,039,200 | 2,044,500 | 1,771,300 |
| Intra Asia | 28% | 3% | 3,997,900 | 3,887,800 | 3,403,100 |
| China domestic | 31% | 12% | 4,430,200 | 3,951,000 | 3,127,500 |
| Other | 14% | 11% | 1,938,400 | 1,749,400 | 1,579,800 |
CoscoSL and OOCL’s average revenues from routes per TEU shrank by 13% to USD 1,032. This was due to stiff declines for the core Europe-Far East and Transpacific trades, with smaller reductions on the other routes. Looking specifically at CoscoSL, the pattern was similar, but with a lower average due to the low rates that are paid for the China domestic containers.
|
Revenues/TEU Cosco Group |
Growth ’25/’24 | 9M25 USD | 9M24 USD | 9M23 USD |
| Europe-Far East | -21% | 1,444 | 1,818 | 1,090 |
| Transpacific | -17% | 1,661 | 1,990 | 1,318 |
| Intra Asia | -3% | 831 | 853 | 778 |
| China domestic | -1% | 306 | 308 | 374 |
| Other | -7% | 1,494 | 1,606 | 1,411 |
| Total | -13% | 1,032 | 1,181 | 934 |
| CoscoSL only | -12% | 1,005 | 1,145 | 920 |
| Europe-Far East | -22% | 1,506 | 1,924 | 1,192 |
| Transpacific | -15% | 1,738 | 2,035 | 1,319 |
| Intra Asia | -3% | 874 | 898 | 810 |
| China domestic | 1% | 310 | 313 | 380 |
| Other | -8% | 1,601 | 1,734 | 1,421 |
Maersk posts sound 9M25 results
After nine months of 2025, A.P. Moller-Maersk saw freight revenues increase by 11% to USD 26.7 billion. However, increased container handling and non-bunker related network costs pressurized operating results such that EBITDA was 19% down to USD 5.1 billion. When including the ‘Container & Services’, ‘ Terminals’ and ‘unallocated…’ segments, group net result slid by nearly 30% to a still very large USD 2.9 billion. However, comparing Q3 2025 with the same period of 2024, the difference in net result was a contraction of two-thirds.
| ’25/’24 | 9M25 | 9M24 | 3Q25 | 3Q24 | |
| Revenue (USD) | 11% | 26,659 | 23,928 | 11,793 | 9,934 |
| EBITDA (USD) | -19% | 5,133 | 6,365 | 1,787 | 4,002 |
| Net profit (USD) | -29% | 2,942 | 4,122 | 1,096 | 3,147 |
| Carryings (TEU) | 4% | 19,116,000 | 18,408,000 | 6,794,000 | 6,350,000 |
| Rev/TEU (USD) | 7% | 1,395 | 1,300 | 1,736 | 1,564 |
| EBIT/TEU (USD) | -22% | 269 | 346 | 263 | 630 |
| Opr Margin | – | 19.3% | 26.6% | 15.2% | 40.3% |
(Million USD)
Notwithstanding the later trend(s) of 3Q, Maersk cautiously raised its expectations for the whole year closer to the upper ends of earlier quoted ranges, including a 4% growth for cargo volumes. Indeed, looking at its volumes for the year to-date, Maersk already noted that same 4% growth after moving some 19.1 million TEU. Most of that came from East-West trades which expanded by 5% and 426,000 TEU. The other two broad trades grew by 2-3% and added a combined 282,000 TEU.
| Carryings | Share 2025 | Growth ’25/’24 | 9M25 TEU | 9M24 TEU | 9M23 TEU |
| East-West | 46% | 5% | 8,812,000 | 8,386,000 | 8,096,000 |
| North-South | 32% | 3% | 6,210,000 | 6,004,000 | 5,798,000 |
| Intra-Regional | 21% | 2% | 4,094,000 | 4,018,000 | 3,698,000 |
| All trades | 100% | 4% | 19,116,000 | 18,408,000 | 17,592,000 |
In general, Maersk’s average freight revenue per TEU struggled as they were more than 30% weaker in Q3 2025 than a year earlier. This was driven by the core East-West route where freight revenue was 27% down. North-South rates were also much weaker (-17%) with intra-regional cargoes managing a small improvement.
| Revenues/TEU | Growth ’25/’24 | 3Q25 USD | 3Q24 USD | 3Q23 USD |
| East-West | -27% | 1,331 | 1,832 | 985 |
| North-South | -17% | 1,623 | 1,944 | 1,401 |
| Intra-Regional | 2% | 825 | 811 | 719 |
| All trades | -31% | 1,122 | 1,618 | 1,048 |
ONE’s financial fiscal 1H results implode
During 1H of fiscal 2015 (April-September), ONE posted a turnover of USD 8.5 billion, 16% down year-on-year. EBITDA dropped by 58% to USD 1.50 billion, whilst net profit shriveled by 87% to USD 371 million.
| ’25/’24 | 1H25 | 1H24 | 2Q25 | 2Q24 | |
| Revenue | -16% | 8,504 | 10,075 | 4,455 | 5,864 |
| EBITDA | -58% | 1,497 | 3,603 | 881 | 2,386 |
| Net profit | -87% | 371 | 2,778 | 285 | 1,999 |
| Carryings (TEU) | 1% | 6,488,000 | 6,433,000 | 3,323,000 | 3,291,000 |
| Rev/TEU (USD) | -16% | 1,311 | 1,566 | 1,341 | 1,782 |
| EBITDA/TEU (USD) | -59% | 231 | 560 | 265 | 725 |
| Opr. Margin | – | 17.6% | 35.8% | 19.8% | 40.7% |
(Converted million USD)
Overall carryings grew by a marginal 0.9% to 6.48 million TEU. There was growth on the Far East-Europe route in both directions, but a strong decline on the Transpacific trade, particularly in the westbound direction from North America to the Far East.
| Carryings | Share 2025 | Growth ’25/’24 | 1H25 TEU | 1H24 TEU | 1H23 TEU |
| Far East-Europe | 8.0% | 957,000 | 886,000 | 819,000 | |
| Europe-Far East | 3.5% | 507,000 | 490,000 | 461,000 | |
| Total | 22.6% | 6.4% | 1,464,000 | 1,376,000 | 1,280,000 |
| Transpacific EB | -1.4% | 1,383,000 | 1,403,000 | 1,284,000 | |
| Transpacific WB | -25.9% | 423,000 | 571,000 | 586,000 | |
| Total | 27.8% | -8.5% | 1,806,000 | 1,974,000 | 1,870,000 |
| Other | 49.6% | 4.4% | 3,218,000 | 3,083,000 | 2,761,000 |
| Grand total | 100.0% | 0.9% | 6,488,000 | 6,433,000 | 5,911,000 |
Source: DynaLiners 45/25 – 07 November 2025
