Maersk, the world's largest shipping company, raised its 2021 performance guidelines again on Thursday. Soren Skou, CEO of Maersk, said on Thursday that the current global shipping demand is very strong and there is no sign that it will slow down this year.

At present, the global shipping crisis has not been lifted, the shortage of container ships and port congestion caused by the epidemic continue, containers are still "hard to find one box", and freight prices are rising all the way. The Baltic dry bulk index (BDI) has soared all the way since this year.

Maersk CEO Soren Skou told the media, "in our data, there is no sign that this situation will change this year." He predicted that compared with 2020, Global trade volume will grow by 7% to 8% this year.

Soren Skou said that we see that the demand of end customers is very, very strong, and businesses continue to supplement the supply of goods. However, due to the epidemic, the transportation or loading capacity of ports, warehouses and ships has not been fully utilized.

He said that at present, 9% - 10% of the global container transportation capacity is still waiting for unloading outside the port. The problem is particularly acute at Long Beach port in Los Angeles, where about 60 container ships are still waiting to unload.

According to the global port tracker prepared by Hackett associates for the National Retail Federation (NRF), major U.S. ports are expected to handle about 2.37 million import containers in August, the highest number since 2002.

The NRF predicts that the total number of inbound containers in the United States will reach 25.9 million containers (in 20 foot equivalent units) this year, which will break the record of 22 million containers in 2020.

Maersk is the world's largest container transportation company, handling about one-fifth of the world's container transportation. The company latest estimated on Thursday that the annual EBITDA was $22 billion to $23 billion, higher than the previous estimate of $18 billion to $19.5 billion.

Some US port executives recently predicted that the chaos and congestion of the world's major shipping channels will continue until next year

Mario Cordero, executive director of Long Beach port, has recently had many exchanges with shipping companies and their freight customers. He said that the slowdown in container throughput usually occurs at the same time as the Chinese Lunar New Year in February. Many Chinese factories usually have holidays and close down at this time. However, this time, it may not be able to greatly alleviate the shipping congestion.

"I don't think there will be a significant reduction in the congestion that major container ports are experiencing. Many people expect this to continue until the summer of 2022," Cordero said

Griff Lynch, executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority, also predicted that "the shipping market may still be very strong until at least the middle of 2022 and even the whole of 2022".