Maersk Loses $500M Monthly; Shell Profits Rise 24%

Shipping giant Maersk is absorbing a 500 million US dollar monthly hit from disruption caused by the Iran war, while oil major Shell reported a 24 percent rise in first-quarter earnings to 6.92 billion dollars, highlighting the sharply divergent impacts of the conflict on different sectors of the energy industry. The Iran war, which began on February 28 when the US and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran, has closed the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic, disrupted shipping routes in the Red Sea, and pushed oil prices into the 90 to 100 dollar per barrel range. Maersk, which carries around one in five of the world's seaborne containers, reported first-quarter pre-tax profits of 292 million dollars, down sharply from 1.43 billion dollars a year earlier, though this period only captured the early stages of the conflict. The company is maintaining its full-year guidance for 2 to 4 percent container market growth but described the outlook as "highly uncertain," with costs expected to surge in the current and next quarters as it works to pass higher fuel expenses on to customers. The Upper Gulf region, now disrupted by the conflict, accounted for around 6 percent of global container trade in 2025. Shell, meanwhile, has been a major beneficiary of the energy price surge, with its oil trading business particularly boosted by the conflict, while its chemicals and products division saw earnings more than quadruple. The company announced additional shareholder returns including a three billion dollar share buyback programme and a 5 percent dividend increase. However, the oil giant has faced criticism from policy groups for profiting from the conflict, which is expected to increase energy, food and transport costs for households. Maersk chief executive Vincent Clerc warned that the conflict could eventually impact consumer demand through inflation, saying the company is focused on staying close to customers who face "significant disruptions" in their supply chains as the situation remains volatile with downside risks to growth.