AP Moller-Maersk is sticking with its no-newbuildings stance, but chief executive Soren Skou has hinted at a slight softening of its position on fitting scrubbers.
Maersk has only ordered two optional ships since 2016 and has four newbuildings remaining from its last round of investment.
However, with the company in the midst of a strategic change of direction, Maersk is not prepared to ramp up its capital expenditure requirements.
“Capex remains a focus, or rather not spending any capax,” chief executive Soren Skou said during the company’s second quarter earnings presentation.
“We will continue down this path into 2020,” he added, noting Maersk Line had plenty of capacity to take it though 2019.
Maersk is working its way towards the end of four major terminal developments and its planned investments will be greatly reduced by the end of 2019.
This will give AP Moller what Skou calls “significant strategic agility,” come 2020.
AP Moller today reported an underlying profit of $88m for the three months to the end of June, down from $205m at the same stage a year ago. The figure was ahead of the $185m loss consensus.
Asked by analysts about potential investments required to meet the incoming 2020 sulphur emissions laws, Skou repeated his previous skepticism around scrubbers.
“We don’t like the solution,” he said. “We think that the sulphur should be taken out at the refineries.”
While the executive says it is not feasible to fit scrubbers to a fleet of more than 700 ships, it was possible they may be placed on “a few” vessels.
