Danish shipping giant Maersk on Wednesday posted record profits in the first quarter as container freight prices continued to soar, allowing it to again raise its 2022 outlook.

After registering record-beating profits for the full-year 2021, the group said its first-quarter net profit had more than doubled to $6.8 billion (€6.5bn) on the back of a 55 per cent jump in sales to $19.2 billion. The record earnings exceeded the previous quarterly high of $6.1 billion reported in the fourth quarter of 2021, despite a $718 million provision following its decision to stop deliveries to and from Russian ports due to the war in Ukraine.

Maersk, the world’s largest container shipping line along with Italy’s MSC, has posted robust profits since the second half of 2020. Demand for shipping plunged at the start of the COVID pandemic, but has rebounded strongly since mid-to-late 2020.

However, bottlenecks still persist in many ports, particularly in China in recent weeks amid draconian anti-COVID measures.

“Port congestions eased slightly from their peaks in the US in the first quarter, while they increased further in Europe and China,” Maersk said, citing an external report. “This continued to result in shortages and challenged supply chain management services and kept rates elevated”, it said.

Port congestions eased slightly from their peaks in the US in the first quarter, while they increased further in Europe and China. This continued to result in shortages and challenged supply chain management services and kept rates elevated

Last week, Maersk, which has a fleet of more than 700 vessels, announced some of its quarterly earnings and raised its outlook for the full-year 2022.

Given the current market situation and despite withdrawing from Russia, the group said it expected earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of around $30 billion, up from the previous forecast of $24 billion.