A. P. Moller-Maersk Group

The A. P. Moller-Maersk Group (Danish: A.P. Møller-Mærsk Gruppen) is an international business conglomerate more commonly known simply as Maersk.^[3] Maersk has activities in a variety of business sectors, primarily transportation (container shipping fleet) and energy (offshore oil exploration and transportation). It is the largest container ship operator and supply vessel operator in the world.^[4]

Maersk is based in Copenhagen, Denmark, and has subsidiaries and offices in more than 130 countries worldwide.^[5] The group has around 117,000 employees. It stood as number 131 on the Fortune Global 500 list for 2008. Up from 138 in 2007. ^[6] Maersk is the second largest company in Scandinavia by revenue.

Business areas

Supply vessel Maersk Shipper (UK-flag)

Maersk has organized their activities into four main categories: Container & related activities, Energy, Shipping & offshore, and Retail & other business.

Container & related activities

"Container shipping and related activities" is by far the largest business area for Maersk, providing 53% of the group's revenue in the first half of 2007, although it posted a financial loss of almost 1 billion DKK for this period.^[7]

Maersk Line

The largest operating group in Maersk by revenue and staff is the Maersk Line division. Maersk Line operates over 500 vessels and 1.9 million containers involved in global liner shipping services. Maersk Line today is the largest container ship operator in the world. They also are know for their involment in transporting large quantities of food to austrial in war times.

Maersk Line, Limited

Maersk Line, Limited, is a US-based subsidiary of A. P. Moller-Maersk Group which manages a fleet of US-flag vessels and provides U.S. government agencies and their contractors with transportation and logistics services. Today, Maersk Line, Limited, manages the world's largest fleet of US-flag vessels. Its headquarters are based in Norfolk, Virginia.^[8]

Beginning with a relatively small number of vessels focused on handling both regular and US Government-subsidised cargoes, MLL's fleet of vessels engaged in commercial liner services grew significantly with the acquisition of Sea-Land Service, Inc. in 1999 and P&O Nedlloyd and Farrell Lines in 2005.

The fleet

• 600 (+) owned & chartered container ships, including some of the largest in the world. (Post-Panamax class^[9] and Emma Mærsk-class.)
• 37 container ships on order at Odense Steel Shipyard, Volkswerft Stralsund, Samsung Heavy Industries, Hanjin Heavy Industries, Dalian New Shipbuilding, Daewoo S&ME. These vessels range in size from 1,800 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) to 11,000 TEU.
• 6 Double-hulled ULCC crude oil tankers of 300,000 metric tons of deadweight (DWT) apiece; 9 new 310,000 DWT tankers on order at Dalian Yard,China.
• 27 Product tankers. (size 15,000 DWT, 29,000 DWT, 35,000 DWT and 110,000 DWT)
• 9 Gas tankers (size up to 35,000 cbm). 6 VLGC 38,000 / 80,000 cbm capacity on order.
• 2 LNG carriers, 138,130 cbm and 145,130 cbm size. Six on order with a capacity of 165,500 cbm with Samsung.
• 3 FPSO ships
• 10 Car-carriers (size 3,000 - 5,100 car capacity), three on order with a capacity of 5,000 cars.
• 40 supply ships, cable-layers and special vessels.
• 29 drilling rigs (Maersk Contractors).
• 12 RORO-Ferrys in service by their own Netherlands based Norfolk Line.
• 265 (+) tugs, barges & other vessels (A/S Em Z.Svitzer-Wijsmüller Group), 40 (+) tugs on order.
• Most of the own vessels are DIS flagged, but also many vessels sail under their subsidiaries with UK/IOM (Maersk Co./UK Ltd.), Singapore (Maersk Singapore Pte.), US Flag (Maersk Line Limited/USA), France (Maersk France S/A), Egypt and Belgium (Safmarine).

APM Terminals

APM Terminals at Portsmouth, Virginia, USA

Maersk's Volkswerft Stralsund, Germany, facility with the large shipbuilding hall and newly-built vessels at the pier: a 2,100 TEU Safmarine Container ship and a Mærsk supply ship.

Main article: APM Terminals

• A. P. Moller-Maersk operates approximately 50 container terminals around the world. Nearly 15 of these were originally Sealand Corp. terminals, taken over in 1999. APM Terminals International has its headquarters in Den Haag, Holland.
  • Europe : Algeciras, Århus, Bremerhaven (enlarged with the CT4 in 2006-2008), Cagliari, Constanţa, Dunkirk, Genoa, Gioia Tauro, JadeWeserPort at Wilhelmshaven (opens in 2009 or 2010), Kaliningrad, Le Havre, Rotterdam, Zeebrugge.
  • North America : Charleston, Houston, Jacksonville, Kingston, Los Angeles, Miami, Mobile (opening 2009), New Orleans, Port Elizabeth, Oakland, Portsmouth, Port Everglades, Port of Savannah, Tacoma.
  • South America : Buenos Aires, Itajai.
  • Asia : Aqaba, Bahrain, Cai Mep (Vietnam), Dalian, Kaohsiung, Kobe, Laem Chabang (Thailand), Mumbai, Pipavav, Port Qasim, Qingdao, Tanjung Pelepas, Salalah, Shanghai, Yokohama.
  • Africa : Abidjan, Apapa, Douala, Port Said, Onne Port (Nigeria), Tangier.

Container related

• Maersk Logistics - supply chain management/logistics solutions provider
• Damco - Forwarding and NVOCC services
• Mærsk Container A/S - Container manufacturing with factories in Tinglev (Denmark), China, and the UK.
• Container Inland Services (Includes; Depots, Equipment Repair, Trucking, Container Sales etc.)
• Safmarine - Ocean shipping line and sister company to Maersk Line
• Youship.com - Online container shipping brand

Energy

The "energy" business area consists of a single subsidiary, Maersk Oil (Danish: Mærsk Olie og Gas A/S), established in 1962 when Maersk was awarded a concession for oil and gas exploration and production in the Danish sector of the North Sea.^[10]

Today, Maersk Oil is engaged in exploration for and production of oil and gas in many parts of the world.^[11] Total oil production is more than 600,000 barrels per day (95,000 m³/d) and gas production is up to some 1 billion cubic feet (28,000,000 m³) per day. Most of this production is from the North Sea, from both the Danish and British sectors, but there is also production in offshore Qatar, in Algeria and in Kazakhstan.

In addition to the above-mentioned producing sites, Maersk Oil is involved in exploration activities in Danish, British, German and Norwegian sectors of the North Sea, Qatar, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Angola, Gulf of Mexico (US sector), Turkmenistan, Oman, Morocco, Brazil, Colombia and Suriname. Most of these activities are not 100% owned, but are via membership in a consortium.

The company prides itself for having developed production techniques especially suited to difficult environments (North Sea, etc.) and for drilling techniques that succeed in extracting oil from problematic underground conditions.

"Oil and gas activities" provided Maersk with 16% of its revenue and 34% of its profit for the first half of 2007.^[7]

Shipping and offshore

The Shipping and offshore activities of Maersk are divided among three organizations: Maersk Tankers, Maersk Contractors and Maersk Supply Service.^[12] "Tankers, offshore and other shipping activities" was responsible for 8% of Maersk's revenue during the first half of 2007, and posted 44% of the group's profit for this period.^[7]

Maersk Tankers

As of Dec. 2007, Maersk Tankers owned and operated a fleet of 80 ships: 7 crude carriers, 52 product tankers, 7 gas carriers, 2 LNG carriers (for liquefied natural gas) and 12 car carriers.^[13] The company emphasizes that all of their tankers are double-hulled, an environmental requirement in much of the world following the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill and other serious oil spills. The company's web site indicates that an additional 56 ships are on order or planned for building over the coming years.

Maersk Drilling

• Involved in the Oilfield Drilling Industry with a fleet of Modern Jack-up and Semi-submersible rigs

Maersk Supply Service

• Management of supply ships and services

Retail & other business

"Retail activity" and "Other companies" gave 25% of Maersk's revenue and 22% of its profit for the first half of 2007.^[7]

• Dansk Supermarked Group - Commercial retail and supermarkets
• Shipbuilding - Comprised of the Odense Steel Shipyard, the Loksa Yard, Baltia ES in Estonia and the Baltijos Laivų Statykla Yard in Lithuania
• Suez Odense repair yard with a 300 m dock at Port Suez, Egypt.
• Mærsk Rosti A/S - Production of plastic-based products
• Norfolkline - Ferry services
• Svitzer (former Svitzer Wijsmuller) - Vessel towing and marine salvage operations
• Danske Bank - Maersk owns a 20 % stake in one of the biggest banks in Scandinavia

MISE

Maersk International Shipping Education (M.I.S.E.) is the 2 year trainee program constituted to develop the future leaders of the A.P. Moller - Maersk Group.

Each year approximately 450 trainees are enrolled representing more than 80 countries into the M.I.S.E. Programme. Trainees are selected from more than 85,000 applications received each year and undergo an intensive education. The program combines practical and theoretical education across all major divisions of the group with extensive multicultural exposure and international job opportunities within Maersk upon completion.

History

Main article: History of Maersk

The A.P. Møller-Mærsk Group started as the shipping company Dampskibsselskabet Svendborg, founded by captain Peter Mærsk-Møller and his son Arnold Peter Møller (2 October 1876 - June 1965) in Svendborg, 1904. A.P. Møller had twelve children, one of whom was Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller (born 13 July 1913). In 1939, he became a partner in the company. Following the death of A.P. Møller in June 1965, Mc-Kinney Møller became CEO of the company and held this post until 1993, when he was succeeded by Jess Søderberg. Beginning in 1965, Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller also served as company chairman and did not relinquish this position until December 2003 (when he was 90 years old). He is still one of the "managing owners" of the company and was chairman of Odense Steel Shipyard until 2 May 2006.

See History of Maersk for a more comprehensive history of the company.

Controversies

United States military contracting

Maersk subsidiaries provide services for the United States military, and are thus indirectly involved in U.S. military conflicts. Precise information is difficult to come by, but the following is known or claimed:

• Maersk Line, Limited, provides services under contract for the U.S. Department of Defense Military Sealift Command to operate and manage military vessels, continuing a relationship established at the onset of first Gulf War in 1991.^[14] For example, on August 6 2002, Maersk Line, Limited, received a contract that "could total $400 million to operate and maintain eight large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ships that strategically preposition Army equipment in the Indian Ocean near Diego Garcia." ^[15]

• "Starting in August 2002, Maersk's giant container ships had delivered a third of all U.S. military equipment to the region, in preparation for the invasion of Iraq." ^[16]

• Continuing operations in support of the occupation would net the Mærsk Group upwards of $1.8b in war-related sales volume through 2006, according to OMB data:^[17]

Total volume of federal contracts awarded, by fiscal year

• 2000 – $257,423,051
• 2001 – $245,986,012
• 2002 – $190,270,973
• 2003 – $238,928,067
• 2004 – $378,574,266
• 2005 – $572,380,094
• 2006 – $542,629,338

Approximately 99% of federal contracts were on behalf of the Departments of the Army and Navy, with much smaller portions alloted to the USAID, Department of State, and other agencies.

• The size and growth of these contracts is notable due to American laws that favor American-owned, managed, and crewed ships for U.S. military contracts, a law that Maersk has lobbied to have changed.^[18]

Other involvement in Middle East conflicts

• A report from 1985, during the Iran–Iraq War: "... the Iranian Navy has intercepted several ships heading for Kuwaiti ports. On Sunday the Danish registered Arnold Maersk was stopped and forced to dock in an unidentified Iranian port. On Monday the Iranian News Agency announced that the ships' cargo of weapons was being confiscated ..." ^[19]
• "A Danish company sold Saddam Hussein a complete, ready made, turn-key production unit for the manufacture of grenades, ... The paper identified the seller as the Danish Industrial Syndicate (DISA), a subsidiary of the A.P. Møller-Maersk group, claiming it sold the equipment to the Iraqi government in 1986." ^[20]

• According to a series of reports by CorpWatch, Maersk took over and ran the Iraqi port of Khor az-Zubayr, near Umm Qasr in Southern Iraq, under questionable circumstances following the ouster of Saddam Hussein in April 2003. Various legal, economic and security problems culminated in Maersk abandoning the facility in March 2005.^{[21][22][23][16]}

Political influence in Denmark

Maersk's position as Denmark's largest company, as a dominant regional player in the North Sea oil and gas industry and as the owner of the world's largest container shipping company, has provided it, over a number of decades, with a significant influence on Denmark's economic, political and social development.^[24] In this connection, both the company and its owners have been accused of exercising behind-the-scenes pressure on policy-makers in order to advance their own firmly conservative outlook on society.^[24]

See also

• Safmarine
• Odense Steel Shipyard
• Norfolkline
• Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A.
• MF Dunkerque

External links

• Website of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group
• Yahoo! - A.P. Møller-Mærsk A/S Company Profile
• Website of SVITZER A/S
• Website of the shipping line "Maersk Line"
• Website of Reederei Blue Star
• Website of Norfolkline
• Website of APM Terminals
• Website of Youship
• Website of Blue Star History

Sources

• Peter Suppli Benson, Bjørn Lamnek and Stig Ørskov: Mærsk · manden og magten, Politiken Bøger, 2004 ("Maersk · The Man and Power", in Danish).
• Lotte Folke Kaarsholm, Cavling Prize recipient Charlotte Aagaard (Information) and Osama Al-Habahbeh (Al-Jazeera in Denmark): Iraqi Port Weathers Danish Storm, CorpWatch, 31/1/2006.
• Christian Jensen, Tomas Kristiansen and Karl Erik Nielsen: Krigens købmænd, Gyldendal, 2000 ("The Merchants of War", in Danish)

References

OMX Copenhagen 20 companies of Denmark A.P. Møller-Mærsk · Carlsberg · D/S Norden · Danisco · Danske Bank · DSV · FLSmidth & Co. · Genmab · Jyske Bank · Lundbeck · NKT Holding · Nordea · Novo Nordisk · Novozymes · Sydbank · Topdanmark · TrygVesta · Vestas Wind Systems · William Demant