Maersk Line, the world's biggest container shipper, is optimistic for next year on strong demand growth from emerging markets and stable freight rates, its chief executive said.

"We do see the (industry) growth next year could be 7 to 8 percent... We can expect up to double digit from emerging markets like Africa and South America," CEO Eivind Kolding told Reuters on the sidelines of the G20 CEO Summit in Seoul.

Kolding said after the horrible season for the shipping industry over the past few years, confidence has started to pick up, but the Pacific business would expand slowly due to weak economic recovery in the United States, the region's major export market.

"We do not really see the American economy picking up fast..We are not so bullish for short term," Kolding said.

"(We'll) take some ships out of service until the business is back.. probably spring next year...What we will try to work on is to keep stability and keep the freight rates where they are right now."

Confidence has returned to the global container industry, a key indicator of world economic growth, with shipping demand expected to top supplies next year, the chief executive of South Korea's maritime firm Hanjin Shipping told Reuters in an interview.

Average freight rates, including bunker surcharges, rose 34 percent in the nine months to end-September from the year-earlier period and volumes increased by 7 percent, the Maersk said earlier.

Its parent shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk raised its 2010 profit forecast to around $5 billion, after posting forecast-beating profits for nine months of this year, thanks to cost cuts and higher freight rates.

In a bid to adjust to weaker demand after the peak season, Maersk Line said in October it would suspend about 10 percent of its Asia-Europe service. (Reuters)