Supply chain challenges remain but could start to ease in the second half of the year, Maersk CEO says

Maersk CEO Søren Skou says the supply chain crisis is likely to persist.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images.

• Supply chain problems are likely to persist in the first half of 2022, according to Maersk CEO, Søren Skou. 
• Skou told CNN that there are still not enough workers to tackle backlogs at ports.
• Tightness could start to ease in the second half of 2022 if COVID-19 restrictions ease.

The supply chain issues that have hampered global trade over the course of the pandemic are likely to persist through the first half of 2022, according to the CEO of shipping giant Maersk.

Speaking on CNN's 'First Move' Wednesday, Søren Skou said global trade was still "constrained by the shipping capacity that is available." 

"Right now the situation does not appear to get significantly better, we still see this search of demand we've had for quite a number of months now," he told CNN, citing the bottleneck of container ships waiting outside the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as an example of the problem.

Skou said that there is still a shortage of workers in trucking, at warehouses, and operating cranes at ports, all of which is continuing to slow the processing and movement of goods.

But a "normalization" of supply chain problems could occur in the second half of the year if COVID-19 infections fall and restrictions ease, which should result in a drop in freight rates, Skou was cited as saying by the Financial Times.

Container freight rates hit record levels in 2021 as higher demand for consumer goods ran into supply chain constraints, causing backlogs at ports. Maersk revealed in its annual report Wednesday that revenue increased by more than 50% to nearly $62 million in 2021.

The company forecast that global container demand is expected to grow between 2% and 4% in 2022 "subject to high uncertainties related to the current congestion, network disruptions and demand patterns."

"It's fair to say that we don't have much experience of coming out of a pandemic. Exactly how it will play out is hard to say," Skou was reported as saying by the FT.

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