Brief analysis of Q3 2025 performance of major shipping and logistics companies

Major global container shipping companies and logistics enterprises successively announced their financial reports for the third quarter of 2025 recently. Many witnessed reducing profit and operating revenue on the year.

OOCL

During the reporting period, Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) achieved a route revenue of USD 2.264 billion in the third quarter of 2025, a year-on-year decrease of 25.9%. In addition, its total cargo volume rose by 0.7% year-on-year, overall load factor fell by 2.8% year-on-year, and the overall average revenue per TEU dropped by 26.5% year-on-year.

By route, during the reporting period: OOCL's Transpacific Routes recorded a revenue of USD 838 million, down 33.2% year-on-year; Asia/Europe Routes generated a revenue of USD 480 million, decreasing by 38.3% year-on-year; Transatlantic Routes achieved a revenue of USD 180 million, up 25.4% year-on-year; Intra-Asia/Australia-Asia Routes earned a revenue of USD 766 million, a year-on-year decline of 12.9%.

Maersk

Maersk released its financial report for the third quarter of 2025.

During the reporting period, Maersk achieved a revenue of 14.2 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 9.9%; earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) were approximately 1.3 billion US dollars, down 61.2% y-o-y.

In the shipping business segment, Maersk's third-quarter revenue was 9.18 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 17.4%; EBIT was 570 million US dollars, down 80.0% on annual basis.

Maersk stated that due to the "Twin Star" collaboration significantly reducing costs and promoting cargo volume growth, its shipping cargo volume in the third quarter increased by 7% year-on-year. Maersk analyzed that the profitability of the logistics business further improved, mainly due to cost control and the good performance of fulfillment services, especially warehousing business.

Based on the good performance in the third quarter, Maersk raised its full-year 2025 performance forecast. The expected EBIT for 2025 is 3-3.5 billion US dollars, compared with the previous forecast of 2-3.5 billion US dollars.

ONE

The ONE released its financial results for the second quarter of the 2025 fiscal year (July-September 2025).

During the reporting period, ONE achieved a revenue of 4.455 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 24%; its net profit was 285 million US dollars, a year-on-year drop of 86%; its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) stood at 881 million US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 63%; and its earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) reached 282 million US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 85%.

In terms of cargo volume, ONE's container throughput in the third quarter hit 3.323 million TEU, a year-on-year increase of 1.0%.

Jeremy Nixon, CEO of ONE, stated that in light of current market trends, ONE maintains a cautious stance on the performance outlook for the 2025 fiscal year (April 2025-March 2026). Notably, ONE lowered its full-year profit forecast, expecting a revenue of approximately 16.5 billion US dollars and a net profit of around 310 million US dollars for the 2025 fiscal year. The previous revenue forecast was 17.1 billion US dollars, with a net profit forecast of 700 million US dollars.

C.H. Robinson

C.H. Robinson, which released its third-quarter results, stood out with countercyclical growth that significantly exceeded industry and analysts' expectations.

Q3 highlights:

*Through the rigorous implementation of the company's strategic plan, it has achieved consistent outperforming results, leading to significant market share growth, gross profit margin expansion, and higher operating profit margin.

* Operating profit increased by 22.6% to $220.8 million.

*Adjusted operating profit margin rose by 680 basis points to 31.3%.

* Diluted earnings per share (EPS) grew by 67.5% to $1.34.

COSCO Shipping Holdings

*Q3 net profit: US$1.3 billion

↘Decreased by 55.14% compared with the same period last year (US$3 billion). (Increased by 63.20% quarter-on-quarter)

*Q3 revenue: US$8.2 billion

↘Decreased by 20.42% compared with the same period last year (US$10.3 billion).

* Cumulative net profit for the first three quarters of this year: US$3.8 billion

↘Decreased by 29.15% year-on-year.

* Cumulative revenue for the first three quarters of this year: US$23.6 billion

↘Decreased by 4.09% year-on-year.

In the first three quarters of 2025, affected by the continuous spillover effect of tariff policies, rising geopolitical uncertainties, and weakening global demand for goods trade, freight rates in the container shipping market fluctuated continuously. The average China Containerized Freight Index (CCFI) decreased by 21.99% year-on-year. It was pointed out that: the continuous impact of U.S. tariff policies on exports; geopolitical factors (such as the conflicts in Gaza, the Red Sea, and Russia-Ukraine) have intensified uncertainties; the weak global goods trade has led to a decline in overall freight rates.

DSV

Danish global logistics giant DSV released its financial report for the third quarter of the 2025 fiscal year on October 24.

The company has raised its expected synergies for 2025 to DKK 800 million (up from the previous DKK 500-600 million), of which DKK 300 million was achieved in the third quarter. DSV continues to target an annual total synergy of DKK 9 billion by the end of 2028, while estimating the total transaction and integration costs at approximately DKK 11 billion.

Gross profit in the third quarter of 2025 reached DKK 19.508 billion, compared with DKK 11.08 billion in the same period last year. EBIT before special items totaled DKK 5.434 billion, higher than the DKK 4.42 billion recorded in the third quarter of 2024. On an organic basis (excluding Schenck's contribution), gross profit increased by 5.4%, while EBIT before special items decreased by 7.3% at constant exchange rates.

Kuehne+Nagel

According to the third-quarter report released by Kuehne+Nagel on October 23, the Swiss logistics giant was currently launching a series of cost-cutting measures focused on layoffs, which will result in annual cost savings of billions of euros.

The latest financial report showed that Kuehne+Nagel's group turnover in the third quarter was slightly over CHF 6 billion, a 7% decrease compared to nearly CHF 6.5 billion in the third quarter of 2024. Its gross profit stood at CHF 2.1 billion, down by 4%.

The operating profit, measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), fell by 22% to CHF 514 million in the third quarter. Meanwhile, the earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) finally reached CHF 285 million, a sharp drop of 37%.

Pretax profit decreased by 39% to CHF 277 million, and after-tax profit also declined correspondingly to CHF 206 million.

In the first nine months of this year, Kuehne+Nagel's total turnover reached CHF 18.5 billion, a 3% increase compared to the same period last year. However, its operating profit (EBIT) was 17% lower than the level of slightly over CHF 1 billion in 2024.

Evergreen Shipping, Yangming Marine, and Wanhai Lines

Data showed that Evergreen Shipping, Yangming Marine, and Wanhai Lines all recorded year-on-year and month-on-month declines in revenue in October 2025.

Specifically, the three major liner companies-Evergreen Shipping, Yangming Marine, and Wanhai Lines-all saw their cumulative revenue decline year-on-year in the first 10 months of this year. For October revenue alone, Evergreen Shipping,'s revenue dropped to approximately NT$27.3 billion, Yangming Marine 's fell to around NT$11.5 billion, and Wanhai Lines ' remained stable at about NT$10.4 billion.

Evergreen Shipping's revenue in October decreased by 9.3% month-on-month.

Specifically, Evergreen Shipping achieved operating revenue of NT$27.33 billion (approximately US$890 million) in October 2025, down 34.2% year-on-year and 9.3% month-on-month.

In the first 10 months of 2025, Evergreen Shipping 's cumulative operating revenue reached NT$320.70 billion (approximately US$10.29 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 17.6%.