Shipping and oil group AP Moller-Maersk  is seen swinging to a first-quarter net loss as diving global trade and rates hit its container shipping and low oil prices hit its oil business.

Maersk owns world No 1 container shipper Maersk Line, and pumps oil from the North Sea, Qatar, Algeria and Kazakhstan.
“They’ll hurt from lower boxship rates and volumes and from the drop in oil prices, and they won’t find any relief in tanker shipping operations either,” Sydbank analyst Jacob Pedersen said. “This could be one of the group’s toughest quarters ever.”
The Danish group, which before 2008 opened its books only every half year, will not provide a full segment breakdown but only group figures for the quarter.
Analysts said they were hoping for a more detailed full-year outlook. The group in March forecast 2009 results before sales significantly below last year’s $2.6 billion.
Last year, Maersk reported a 17 billion Danish crowns ($3.11 billion) net profit as record high oil prices offset an implosion of the global container shipping market in the second half of the year.
Analysts see quarterly net losses at 642 million Danish crowns versus a year-ago 5.03 billion Danish crown profit. Core group profit (Ebitda) is seen nearly halving to 9.30 billion Danish crowns. 
Handelsbanken sees Maersk’s container shipping volumes and freight rates down 15 per cent and 16 per cent respectively, it said in a note, while some other analysts saw bigger drops.