A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, the owner of the world’s largest container shipping line, said the market will return to growth next year and that freight rates may rise as carriers curb capacity increases.

Container volumes are likely to grow by 3 percent to 8 percent in 2010 as the market emerges from the first year of contraction since containerization went global in the 1970s, Eivind Kolding, chief executive officer of the company’s Maersk Line container unit, said yesterday in an interview.

“The trends are pointing the right way,” said Kolding, who spoke in Vaerloese, northwest of Maersk’s base in Copenhagen. “Volumes are a little bit better than expected and rates are also going up. We still have some way to go, and we also have to get costs down some more.”

Container numbers are headed for a 10 percent drop this year, Kolding said, prompting shipping companies to postpone orders for new vessels, idle existing ones and sail at slower speeds to rein in capacity. The measures mean that average freight prices that fell 30 percent in the first nine months may next year be level or slightly up from 2009, he said.

A.P. Moeller-Maersk rose 1.09 percent to 37,000 kroner in Copenhagen. The shares have gained 32 percent this year, valuing the company at 160 billion kroner ($32 billion).

Recovery Signs

“There have been quite a few signs that the container market is seeing some recovery and Maersk Line will be helped by better rates and lower unit costs,” said Peter Rothausen, an analyst at Danske Bank A/S in Copenhagen with a “hold” rating on the stock.

The euro-area economy emerged from its worst recession since World War II in the third quarter, helped by higher exports, the European Union’s statistics office said Nov. 13.

The container market will reach a “healthy” balance between supply and demand -- equal to conditions before the financial crisis -- by 2013, Kolding said. That’s two years earlier than he had estimated in June.

Container shippers with a lower cost base will be profitable before 2013, though none of the world’s 25 largest carriers will make money this year, the CEO said. Danske Bank’s Rothausen said he expects Maersk Line to be profitable in 2011.

“The key element is to have a good cost structure,” Kolding said. “We hope we’re a leader on that front and therefore will be one of the market participants that first cross the important line of becoming profitable again.”

Maersk Line, which operates almost 500 vessels, this month ended a five-year absence from the Trans-Pacific Stabilization Agreement, a partnership that includes 14 of the company’s largest rivals, saying it’s necessary to work with competitors to restore profitability to the industry.

“Our market share is not large enough for us to go out on our own and lift rates,” Kolding said. “We need the other market players to do it with us.”