These days, you can’t talk about global shipping or logistics without hearing about layoffs. Hit hard by falling freight rates and chronic overcapacity, major shipping lines, freight forwarders, and logistics giants are all rolling out workforce optimization plans one after another. Maersk is cutting around 1,000 corporate jobs; DSV plans to lay off 5,000 employees; even Amazon and UPS are each slashing 30,000 roles. South Korea’s flagship liner company HMM is taking a different route—calling on employees around 50 years old to apply for early retirement, with generous compensation and support for reemployment or starting their own businesses.
HMM’s Early Retirement Program
Recently, HMM officially launched its early retirement program for employees aged around 50. Under the plan, participants will receive a one-time compensation of no less than two years’ salary, and the company has promised to provide reemployment and entrepreneurship counseling services. An HMM spokesperson told the media that the move is “aimed at promoting the rational flow of the organizational structure and reserving human resources for new recruits,” emphasizing that it has “nothing to do with the current container market situation.”
This is the first time HMM has launched a voluntary retirement program since 2022—last time, around 30 employees participated. Industry insiders point out that “early retirement” is often a euphemism for layoffs in Asia’s shipping and manufacturing industries, a practice that dates back to the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Back then, Japanese companies could no longer sustain the long-standing “lifetime employment system,” and early retirement became a common way for enterprises to reduce their workforce.
Industry Environment & Freight Rate Pressure
While analysts predict HMM will remain profitable thanks to its diversified business portfolio, including dry bulk carriers and oil tankers, it’s not uncommon for companies to make preventive workforce adjustments when industry prospects tighten. Market data shows that pressure on the global container shipping industry is mounting.
On February 6, 2026, the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) closed at 1,266.56 points, a drop of more than 30% from last year’s high of around 2,000 points. At the same time, global new ship deliveries are expected to reach approximately 10 million TEU this year, fueling growing concerns about overcapacity.
Shipping consulting firm Linerlytica notes that while global TEU-mile demand is still about 6.5% higher than last year, uncertainties remain—whether cargo volume growth outside the U.S. can be sustained, if Red Sea diversions will continue, and whether port congestion will remain high. This means shipping companies will face a severe test in their ability to stem the decline in freight rates in the coming months.
Layoff Trends Among Global Shipping Giants
HMM is far from alone in this. Around the same time, Maersk launched a $180 million cost-cutting plan, which will eliminate approximately 1,000 headquarters and functional positions—one-sixth of its roughly 6,000 headquarters roles. Maersk’s EBIT from its shipping business in the fourth quarter was -$153 million, a sharp drop from $567 million in the previous quarter and a massive decline from $1.6 billion in the same period last year.
Other shipping companies are feeling the pinch too: ONE reported an operating loss of about $84 million and a net loss of around $88 million in the fourth quarter of 2025; Hapag-Lloyd is expected to announce a negative operating profit this month. Ten out of the world’s top 12 liner companies have returned more than $160 billion in cash to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks since 2020. But as the container shipping “super cycle” draws to a close, this era of cash dividends may soon be over.
Overcapacity & Market Challenges
Data shows that global container capacity increased by 7% in 2025, while overall market cargo volume grew by only about 4.8%. In 2026, global container cargo volume is expected to rise by 2.5%, while capacity growth may reach 4.6%—creating a clear supply surplus.
Industry insiders point out that as capacity continues to be released and downward pressure on freight rates intensifies, shipping companies will have no choice but to control costs through layoffs, early retirement, and other measures, while optimizing their organizational structures to reserve space for future market recovery.
Taken together, HMM’s early retirement program, Maersk’s large-scale layoffs, and other workforce optimization moves by logistics enterprises all indicate that the shipping and logistics industry is entering a cyclical adjustment period. Whether through voluntary retirement, layoffs, or organizational restructuring, this round of workforce adjustments reflects the industry’s response to falling freight rates, overcapacity, and market uncertainty—and marks the gradual end of the global shipping industry’s “boom period.”
