<p style="text-indent:0px; line-height:12px;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey-</span><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">By ANUK Staff<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">3.4.13</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/Maersk_shipping_over_capacity_BODY.jpg" alt="Cropped Images 03042013" />Maersk Line’s Chief Executive Officer for North Asia Tim Smith said that over-capacity in the global container ship market will continue to provide a drain on profit growth in 2013.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Smith warned that capacity issues in the global container market would continue to put downward pressure on industry participants this year, according to CNBC.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">"This year there should be 10 to 11 percent more capacity coming in from the ship yards. As we expect 4 to 5 percent demand growth, we still need to bridge that gap. We need to carefully monitor supply and demand and take ships out if they are not needed," he commented.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Despite market conditions, the world’s largest container shipper reported last month a profit of $461 million for 2012 on cost cuts and improving demand. Parent company Maersk Group, reported a net profit of $4 billion for the full year, over the $3.7 billion it forecast in November.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Smith said he was "positively surprised" by the firm's growth despite difficult market conditions relating to Europe's debt crisis, which hit shipping routes between Asia and Europe.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">"Last year was about getting supply and demand matched up. We saw a big reduction in demand so we focused on taking some ships out. On our Asia-Europe route we took 21 percent of capacity out," he said.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Smith expects modest growth in the global container industry for the remainder of the year.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">"We see a similar year to 2012 with a lot of uncertainty and not a great deal of demand improvement. Last year global containerized trade grew by 2-3 percent this year it'll be more like 4-5 percent, but still with a lot of variability," he said.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">"Europe looks flat and North America, a bit better. The best chances of growth are in China, Asia and the emerging markets, particularly India, the Middle East and South America are the stronger areas," he said.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/100515989" target="_new">Maersk Line Shipping</a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
