Major container shipping lines closed 2025 with $15.4 billion in EBIT, signalling a soft landing for the industry despite sharp year-on-year profit declines.
According to Sea‑Intelligence, while down from $35.4 billion in 2024 and far below 2021–2022 peaks, profitability remains comfortably above pre-pandemic levels.
All reporting carriers posted positive operating profits in 2025. COSCO led the rankings with USD 4.93 bn, followed by Evergreen ($2.36 billion), OOCL ($1.54 billion) and Maersk ($1.39 billion). ONE and Yang Ming recorded the smallest profits at $459 million and $472 million, respectively.
Earnings per container (EBIT/TEU) show a significant year-on-year decline, with all carriers seeing reductions from 2024 levels. ONE experienced the sharpest fall, dropping to just 36 USD/TEU.
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Despite the downturn, 2025 EBIT/TEU remains historically strong. ZIM (277 USD/TEU), HMM (257 USD/TEU), OOCL (195 USD/TEU), COSCO (180 USD/TEU), and Yang Ming (107 USD/TEU) all posted figures exceeding any year from 2010 to 2019.
Hapag-Lloyd (83 USD/TEU) and Maersk (54 USD/TEU) returned to levels close to their early-2010s averages.
Overall, while 2025 marked a clear cooldown from the exceptional profits of the previous two years, the financial performance of major container carriers has stabilised at levels that keep them well above the low points of the late 2010s.
For more information:
Sea-Intelligence – https://www.sea-intelligence.com/
