Maersk spends more than $ 1 billion to deepen air freight as the world’s largest container shipping group and one of the biggest winners in the global supply chain crisis seeks to strengthen its logistics offering .

The Danish group acquires Senator International, a German freight forwarding company strong in air freight, for $ 644 million. It also leases three new planes from next year and purchases two more in 2024.

The acquisition came as Maersk released third quarter results on Tuesday which highlighted how the group benefited from skyrocketing freight rates triggered by the supply chain crisis.

Revenue was up two-thirds from the same period a year earlier to $ 16.6 billion, while operating profits nearly quintupled to $ 5.9 billion. Maersk had already raised its profit forecast for this year for the third time in September.

Maersk expected earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and depreciation of around $ 6 billion to $ 7 billion in the fourth quarter, and said it expects to do the same in the first quarter of next year. , although he warned that the uncertainty was higher than normal.

Explaining the acquisition of Senator Vincent Clerc, Managing Director of Ocean and Logistics at Maersk, said: “We have strengthened our integrated logistics offering through e-commerce logistics acquisitions, technology investments, expansion of our warehouse footprint and, as a natural next step, we are now dramatically increasing our air cargo capacity and creating a larger network to meet customer needs even better ”.

Maersk has had its own air cargo operations since 1987 and its subsidiary Star Air operates 15 aircraft. The Danish group aims to transport around a third of its air freight tonnage using its own network, with the rest being carried by commercial carriers.

About two-thirds of Senator’s business is air freight, and the German group has 19 weekly flights in its network.

“In the current exceptional market situation with strong demand in the United States and global supply chain disruptions, we have continued to increase capacity and expand our offerings to keep freight moving for our customers. Added Maersk Managing Director Soren Skou.

The group also announced that it would extend its $ 5 billion share buyback program for 2024 and 2025.