By Christian Wienberg and Jonathan Ferro

(Bloomberg) — Container volumes have picked up this yr after the market suffered from sluggish development and overcapacity in 2015, in response to the chief govt officer of A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S.

“At the beginning of this year, things look a little bit better,” Nils Smedegaard Andersen stated in an interview. “We do expect the Asia to Europe business to develop better this year.”

Maersk’s container line, the world’s largest, suffered final yr from a poisonous cocktail of too many vessels simply as world commerce sagged. While the business nonetheless wants to handle overcapacity, the demand aspect seems higher, Andersen stated.

“We find it difficult to believe that the European trade will continue to be negative in 2016,” the CEO stated, talking on the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “A competitive euro and very low energy prices are good for the European economy so Europe should start to pick up consumption-wise this year.”

Maersk additionally has the power to resist continued low oil costs, and “would have no problems” if crude stays under $30 a barrel for the remainder of the yr, Andersen stated. “We are really well positioned for the future. We have a very strong balance sheet.”

Maersk shares pared losses of as a lot as 3.8 %, declining 1.7 % to 7,715 kroner as of 11:05 a.m. in Copenhagen.

“Fundamentally, there are a lot of good things going on in the global economy,” Andersen stated.

©2016 Bloomberg News