SIMIC

According to data from Sea-intelligence, year-on-year revenue growth ranged from 83.9 per cent for Maersk to 274.1 per cent for Wan Hai.

In terms of earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), the shipping lines made an impressive US$37.24 billion in operating profit in Q3 of 2021 alone.

"Combine this with the 2021 first half operating profit of 42.10 billion, and the carriers have made nearly US$80 billion in operating profit so far this year," said Sea-Intelligence CEO Alan Murphy.

The industry has doubled its operating profit during the three quarters of the year, compared to the entire 10 year period of 2010-2020, reflecting an unprecedented level of profitability.

The absurd nature of the current supply/demand and freight rate environment is evident in the above figure, with the 2021 Q3 EBIT/TEU figure of each of these shipping lines a clear outlier compared to the "historical" figures, he said.

The smallest EBIT/TEU was recorded by Maersk of $818/TEU, while the remaining carriers all recorded EBIT/TEU of over $1,000/TEU, with ZIM recording an EBIT/TEU of US2,100/TEU, according to Sea-Intelligence's data.