Shipping, long castigated for its lack of appeal to millennial and Gen Z, has chalked up an impressive stat to give it some street cred to today’s college graduates. Liner shipping is now earning more dollars than many of the best known names in Big Tech.
Which comes as a welcomed change is the industry as shipping was taking a hit with the pandemic. The cargo sector was taking hits with there being travel restrictions as well as postal restrictions.
Liner veteran John McCown, who heads up Blue Alpha Capital in the US, has tallied liner shipping’s combined profits for the third quarter and put them in perspective by comparing them to the stars of the internet such as Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google who collectively are known by the acronym FANG.
The $48.1bn in Q3 container shipping profits was almost 50% higher than total FANG profits and the 42.7% net income to revenue margin was almost three times higher. Compared to earnings behemoths Apple and Microsoft combined, container shipping industry profits were still almost 15% higher with a profit margin that was almost 30% higher underscoring just what a terrific, record year carriers have enjoyed, with the sector on track to post combined profits in the region of up $200bn.
“The hockey stick turn in the recent results of the container shipping industry is unparalleled in its own history. Indeed it’s hard to recall any industry that has turned so sharply upward in its net financial performance,” McCown stated in a new report issued over the weekend.
The extraordinary profits registered by global carriers this year – combined with a severe drop in schedule reliability – has attracted the ire of shippers with regulators in major economies scrutinising operations of carriers and the alliances that they are in.
