(), also known simply as Maersk (), is a Danish

shipping Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...

company, active in ocean and inland freight transportation and associated services, such as supply chain management and port operation. Maersk was the largest container shipping line and vessel operator in the world from 1996 until 2022. The company is based in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, with subsidiaries and offices across 130 countries and around 83,000 employees worldwide in 2020. It is a publicly traded

family business A family business is a commercial organization in which decision-making is influenced by multiple generations of a family, related by blood or marriage or adoption, who has both the ability to influence the vision of the business and the willingn ...

, as the company is controlled by the namesake Møller family through

holding companies A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

. In September 2016, Maersk Group announced that it was splitting into two separate divisions: Transport & Logistics, and Energy. The company's 2018 annual revenue was US$39

billion Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions: *1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is its only current meaning in English. * 1,000,000,000,000, i. ...

(2019). In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Møller-Maersk was ranked as the 622nd -largest public company in the world.

History

() was founded in Svendborg in April 1904 by captain

Peter Mærsk Møller Peter Mærsk Møller (22 September 1836 – 9 February 1927) was a Danish sea captain and the father of Arnold Peter Møller, founder of the Maersk corporation, and grandfather of Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, who made Maersk the largest container s ...

(1836–1927) and his son Arnold Peter (A. P.) Møller (1876–1965). A. P. Møller had four children, all by his first wife Chastine Estelle Roberta Mc-Kinney. Their second child was (Arnold) Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller (1913–2012), who became a partner in 1939 and head of the firm upon his father's death. In 1993, he was succeeded as CEO by

Jess Søderberg Jess Søderberg (born 12 October 1944, in Copenhagen) is a Danish businessman. He served as the CEO of A.P. Moller-Maersk for 14 years from 1993 to 2007. After his departure from A.P. Moller-Maersk, he was Vice President of Carlsberg. He gradu ...

. He continued as chairman until December 2003, at which point he was 90 years of age and Michael Pram Rasmussen took over. Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller was until his death one of the "managing owners" of the company and was chairman of Odense Steel Shipyard until 2 May 2006. In 2016, A.P. Moller – Maersk announced the strategic decision to focus solely on container logistics and to dismantle the conglomerate structure by separating out the oil and gas-related activities. The majority shareholding in Maersk Tankers was sold to A.P. Moller Holding in 2017. Maersk Oil was sold to TOTAL S.A. in 2018 and Maersk Drilling became a separately listed company in April 2019. In 2017, the company was one of the main victims of the

NotPetya Petya is a family of encrypting malware that was first discovered in 2016. The malware targets Microsoft Windows–based systems, infecting the master boot record to execute a payload that encrypts a hard drive's file system table and prevents ...

ransom malware attack, which severely disrupted its operation for several months. In 2021, the company bought 8 carbon-neutral ships for £1bn. In August 2021, Maersk joined the BEC Low-Carbon Charter.

Emblem

P. M. Møller (1836–1927), who was a deeply religious Christian, attached a blue banner with a white seven pointed star on both sides of the black chimney on the steamship ''Laura'' when his wife recovered from illness. In a letter to his wife, P. M. Møller explained in October 1886, "The little star on the chimney is a memory of the night when I prayed for you and asked for a sign: If a star would appear in the gray and cloudy sky, it would mean that the Lord answers prayers." The same star later became the emblem of the Maersk Group. A.P. Moller–Maersk is structured into two main business segments: transport & logistics and energy. These two branches include several subsidiaries such as container shipping and related activities;

APM Terminals APM Terminals is a port operating company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands. A unit of Danish shipping company Maersk's Transport and Logistics division, it manages terminals and provides integrated cargo and inland services. It opera ...

;

tankers Tanker may refer to: Transportation * Tanker, a tank crewman (US) * Tanker (ship), a ship designed to carry bulk liquids ** Chemical tanker, a type of tanker designed to transport chemicals in bulk ** Oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tank ...

, training, offshore and other shipping activities; oil and gas activities; retail activity; and shipyards, other industrial companies, interest in Danske Bank, etc. "Container shipping and related activities" is the largest business area for A.P. Moller–Maersk, providing almost half of the group's revenue in 2008. It comprises worldwide container services, logistics and forwarding and terminal activities under the brand names: Maersk Line, Safmarine, and Damco. For the first since 1996, Maersk has been overtaken by MSC, which has become the container line with largest shipping capacity. .

Transport and logistics

Maersk

The largest operating unit in A. P. Moller–Maersk by revenue and staff (around 25,000 employees in 2012) is Maersk Line. In 2013, the company described itself as the world's largest overseas cargo carrier and operated over 600 vessels with 3.8 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container capacity. As of January 2021, as the largest container fleet, it held 17% of the global TEU. In 2006, the largest container ship in the world to that date, the vessel , was delivered to Maersk Line from Odense Steel Shipyard. Since, seven other sister ships have since been built, and on 21 February 2011 Maersk ordered ten even larger container ships from

Daewoo Daewoo ( ; Hangul: , Hanja: , ; literally "great universe" and a portmanteau of "dae" meaning great, and the given name of founder and chairman Kim Woo-choong) also known as the Daewoo Group, was a major South Korean chaebol (type of conglomerat ...

, the , each with a capacity of 18,000 containers. The first were delivered in 2013. There was an option for 10–20 more, and in June 2011, Maersk placed a follow-on order for a second batch of ten sister ships (to the same design with the same shipyard), but cancelled its option for a third batch of ten. As of February 2010, Maersk had an order book for new ships totalling 857000TEU (including options on the Triple E class); that backlog is larger than the existing fleet of the fourth-largest line, Evergreen Line. Maersk Line cooperated with the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

on testing 7–100% algae biofuel on the Maersk Kalmar in December 2011. In January 2012, Søren Skou took over as CEO of Maersk Line from Eivind Kolding. Later that year, the company ceased its business in Iran in order to prevent potential damage to the company's business with Western countries, particularly the US, due to the sanctions regime led by those countries. On December 12, 2022, Vincent Clerc was appointed CEO of Maersk and will take up his duties on January 1, 2023.

APM Terminals

A. P. Moller–Maersk's independent

business unit with its separate headquarters in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, operates a Global Port, Terminal and Inland Services Network with interests in 57 ports and container terminals in 36 countries on five continents, as well as 155 Inland Services operations in 48 countries. Port and Terminal Operations include: * Europe:

Algeciras Algeciras ( , ) is a municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Cádiz, Andalusia. Located in the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula, near the Strait of Gibraltar, it is the largest city on the Bay of Gibraltar ( es, Bahía de Algeci ...

, Aarhus, Barcelona,

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the Riv ...

, Gothenburg, Port of Poti,

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

Maasvlakte The Maasvlakte () is a massive man-made westward extension of the Europoort port and industrial facility within the Port of Rotterdam. Situated in the municipality of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the Maasvlakte is built on land reclaimed ...

Maasvlakte 2 Maasvlakte 2 is a major civil engineering project in the Netherlands, constructing a new port and supporting infrastructure on reclaimed land adjoining the Maasvlakte. Approximately 2000 hectares will be reclaimed, behind a 4 km dike; approxi ...

Wilhelmshaven Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsh ...

JadeWeserPort JadeWeserPort () is Germany's largest harbour project. It is supported by the states of Lower Saxony (50.1% stake) and Bremen (49.9% stake). This new container port is located at Wilhelmshaven at the Jade Bight, a bay on the North Sea coas ...

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

, Gijon,

Zeebrugge Zeebrugge (, from: ''Brugge aan zee'' meaning "Bruges at Sea", french: Zeebruges) is a village on the coast of Belgium and a subdivision of Bruges, for which it is the modern port. Zeebrugge serves as both the international port of Bruges-Zee ...

, Vado Ligure Reefer Terminal and Vado Gateway. * North America: Los Angeles, Miami,

Mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...

, Port Elizabeth, and Tacoma. * Latin America:

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, Buenaventura (Colombia), Cartagena,

Itajaí Itajaí () is a municipality in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. It is located on the northern central coast of Santa Catarina and is part of the Vale do Itajaí Mesoregion, on the right bank of the Itajaí-Açu river mouth. It lies at th ...

, Pecém, Callao, Santos, Lázaro Cárdenas, Puerto Quetzal, Yucatan, and Limon (Costa Rica). * Middle East:

Aqaba Aqaba (, also ; ar, العقبة, al-ʿAqaba, al-ʿAgaba, ) is the only coastal city in Jordan and the largest and most populous city on the Gulf of Aqaba. Situated in southernmost Jordan, Aqaba is the administrative centre of the Aqaba Govern ...

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

Salalah Salalah ( ar, صَلَالَة, Ṣalālah) is the capital and largest city of the southern Omani governorate of Dhofar. Its population in 2009 was about 197,169. Salalah is the third-largest city in the Sultanate of Oman, and the largest city ...

, Port Said and

Jebel Ali Jebel Ali ( ar, جبل علي) is a port town south-west of Dubai. The Jebel Ali Port is located there. Al Maktoum International Airport has been constructed just outside the port area. Jebel Ali is connected to Dubai via the UAE Exchange (fo ...

. * Asia:

Cai Mep Cai or CAI may refer to: Places * Cai (state), a state in ancient China * Caí River, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Cái River, Vietnam * Cairo International Airport (IATA airport code) * Caithness, a historic county in Scotland (Chapman code) Or ...

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

, Dalian,

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

, Kobe,

Laem Chabang Laem Chabang ( th, แหลมฉบัง, ) is a port city municipality ('' thesaban nakhon'') in Si Racha and Bang Lamung districts of Chonburi Province, Thailand. It includes Thung Sukhla subdistrict (''tambon'') and parts of subdistricts Bu ...

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

, Pipavav, Qingdao,

Tanjung Pelepas The Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP, UN/Locode: MYTPP) is a container port located in Iskandar Puteri, Johor Bahru District, Johor, Malaysia, and is part of the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network, which holds a minority share in the joint ventur ...

, Tianjin, Shanghai,

Xiamen Xiamen ( , ; ), also known as Amoy (, from Hokkien pronunciation ), is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It is divided into six districts: Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong'an ...

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

, India, and Singapore. * Africa:

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city p ...

Apapa Apapa is a Local Government Area in Lagos, located to the west of Lagos Island. Apapa contains a number of ports and terminals operated by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), including the major port of Lagos State and Lagos Port Complex (LPC ...

, Cotonou,

Douala Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and its economic capital. It is also the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region. Home to Central Africa's largest port and its major international airport, Douala International Airport (DLA), it is the com ...

Luanda Luanda () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major Angola#Economy, industrial, Angola#Culture, cultural and Angola#Demographics, urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atl ...

Monrovia Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As th ...

, Onne,

Pointe Noire Pointe-Noire (; kg, Njinji, french: Ndjindji with the letter d following French spelling standards) is the second largest city in the Republic of the Congo, following the capital of Brazzaville, and an autonomous department since 2004. Before ...

, Port Elizabeth,

Tangier Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the capi ...

, and

Tema Tema is a city on the Bight of Benin and Atlantic coast of Ghana. It is located east of the capital city; Accra, in the region of Greater Accra, and is the capital of the Tema Metropolitan District. As of 2013, Tema is the eleventh most populo ...

. * New projects under construction: Savona, and

Maersk Container Industry

''Maersk Container Industry A/S'': Container manufacturing with factories in China (

Dongguan Dongguan (; ) is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. An important industrial city in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the north, Huizhou to the northeast, Shenzhen to the ...

and Qingdao) and headquarters in

(

Tinglev Tinglev (german: Tingleff) is a town with a population of 2,731 (1 January 2022)Adsteam and it now has a fleet of over 400 tugs, line handlers and other vessels. The company provides harbour and terminal towage services in over 100 ports and 20 oil and gas terminals across the globe. As of January 2022 Svitzer operates a fleet of 110 vessels in seven ports and 11 terminals across 12 countries in Svitzer operates in the Africa, Middle East & Asia region.

Damco

Damco was the combined brand of the Maersk Group's logistics activities previously known as Maersk Logistics and Damco. As of 2008 Damco had 10,800 employees in offices in more than 93 countries. and was involved in supply chain management and

freight forwarding A freight forwarder, or forwarding agent, is a person or company who, for a fee organizes shipments for individuals or corporations to get goods from the manufacturer or producer to a market, customer or final point of distribution.

all over the world. In September 2019 Maersk announced that they would dissolve the Damco brand and integrate their remaining activities after initially merging Maersk Line and Damco at the beginning of 2019 at which time the freight forwarding business of Damco stayed separate. The dissolving of the Damco brand was completed by the end of 2020.

Energy

Maersk Oil

Maersk Oil (Danish: Mærsk Olie og Gas A/S) was established in 1962 when Maersk was awarded a concession for oil and gas exploration and production in the Danish sector of the North Sea. Maersk Oil is engaged in the exploration for and production of oil and gas in many parts of the world. 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 The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

, 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, Dutch 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 developed production techniques especially suited to difficult environments (The North Sea, etc.) and for drilling techniques that extract oil from problematic underground conditions. Oil and gas activities provided A .P. Moller – Maersk with 22% of its revenue and 68% of its profit in 2008. On 21 August 2017, A. P. Møller - Mærsk A/S announced the signing of an agreement to sell Mærsk Olie og Gas A/S to

Total S.A. TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and ...

for US$7.45 billion in a combined share and debt transaction. The transaction was subject to regulatory and competition approval and was closed on 8 March 2018, when Maersk Oil became a part of Total.

Maersk Drilling

Maersk Drilling Maersk Drilling is a drilling-rig operator based in Lyngby, Denmark. Established in 1972, the company is a Nasdaq Copenhagen The Nasdaq Copenhagen, formerly known as the Copenhagen Stock Exchange ( da, Københavns Fondsbørs), is an internation ...

supports global oil and gas production by providing high-efficiency drilling services to oil companies around the world. The company owns 24 rigs and its fleet consists of six Ultra-Harsh jack-ups, four XL Enhanced jack-ups (including one new build which is set for delivery in late 2016), four Harsh jack-ups, two Premium jack-up, four

semi-submersible Semi-submersible may refer to a self-propelled vessel, such as: * Heavy-lift ship, which partially submerge to allow their cargo (another ship) to float into place for transport *Narco-submarine, some of which remained partially on the surface * ...

s and four Ultra deepwater

drillships A drillship is a merchant vessel designed for use in exploratory offshore drilling of new oil and gas wells or for scientific drilling purposes. In recent years the vessels have been used in deepwater and ultra-deepwater applications, equipped ...

. Maersk Drilling is among others a market leader in the Norwegian jack-up market with a market share of 7 out of 12 rig .

Maersk Supply Service

Maersk Supply Service provides anchor handling, towage of drilling rigs and platforms as well as supply service to the offshore industry. By 2021, the fleet consists of 41 vessels including anchor handling tug supply vessels (AHTS), subsea support vessels (SSV) and platform supply vessels (PSV).

Other

Maersk Line, Limited

Maersk Line, Limited (MLL) is a US-based subsidiary of A.P. Moller–Maersk Group which owns and operates a fleet of US-flag vessels providing the

U.S. Federal Government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fed ...

and their contractors with multimodal transportation and logistics services. A Virginia-based organization, MLL manages the world's largest fleet of internationally trading US-flagged vessels. Maersk Line has been involved in Department of Justice Investigations and paid fines in 2012.

MCC transport

MCC Transport hosts containerized cargo services in the Intra-Asia market. The company was later renamed Sealand-Asia.

Seago Line

Seago Line is a subsidiary shipping line which serves ports in the Mediterranean region. The company is now Sealand- Europe and Mediterranean.

Safmarine

Safmarine Safmarine, short for South African Marine Container Lines N.V.'','' is a South African international shipping entity and former company offering container and break-bulk shipping services worldwide. It is now owned by its parent company Maersk ...

is an independently operated shipping company in the A. P. Moller–Maersk Group with roots in Africa. It operates a fleet of more than 40 container vessels and more than 20 multi purpose vessels (MPVs). The company has five container vessels and four MPVs on order for delivery in 2009–2011. In September 2020, it was announced that the Safmarine brand will be integrated into Maersk.

Sealand

SeaLand SeaLand, a division of the Maersk Group, is an American intra-regional container shipping company headquartered in Miramar, Florida with representation in 29 countries across the Americas. The company offers ocean and intermodal services using ...

, branded "Sealand – A Maersk Company", is an American regional maritime and logistics operator. It has been part of A. P. Moller - Maersk since 1999. The Sealand name was phased out in 2009, but revived as a separate brand in 2014. After focussing on intermodal services between North, Central and South America, in 2018 it was merged with other Maersk intra-regional brands MCC Transport and Seago Lines to cover European, Mediterranean, and Intra-Asian markets.

Maersk Global Service Center

Maersk GSC operates shared service centres that handle back office, off-shore activities for AP Moller Maersk Group. GSCs are located in Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Chengdu, and Metro Manila.

Tankers, offshore and other shipping activities

Tankers, offshore and other shipping activities" was responsible for 8.8% of Maersk's revenue in 2008, and posted 25% of the group's profit for this period. The business segment comprises Maersk Tankers (it's technical management business sold to Synergy Marine Group in 2021), Maersk Supply Service,

, Maersk FPSOs, Maersk LNG and Svitzer.

South American Aliança

Brazilian coaster

container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermoda ...

subsidiary with eight ships.

Ardent

Ardent Salvage, a joint operating salvage company formed after the merger between Maersk-operated Svitzer and Crowley-operated TITAN Salvage, is involved in towage, salvage, wreck removal, marine firefighting and other offshore support and is represented in more than 100 ports worldwide. Ardent is based in Houston, Texas. Svitzer Bust

KGH

Acquired in 2020, KGH is a European provider of customs and trade solutions, including customs broker services and software applications development.

Retail activity

The company formerly owned a stake in Dansk Supermarked Group which operates stores under the brands:

Bilka Bilka is a Danish chain of hypermarkets. The first store opened in 1970 in Tilst, a suburb of Aarhus. The chain was founded by Herman Salling and is now a part of Salling Group. Today the only air to the large supermarket group is Nikolaj Harri ...

(hypermarket),

Føtex føtex is a Danish chain of supermarkets. The business was established in 1960 as the first supermarket in Denmark and later gave rise to Salling Group (previously Dansk Supermarked Group). The name "føtex" is a mix of the Danish words ''"F� ...

(supermarket, department store),

Salling (department store) Salling is a Danish retail chain that operates two department stores located in the Danish cities of Aarhus and Aalborg. The company used to be known as F. Salling Stormagasin A/S. As of January 2014, the company was owned by Dansk Supermarked ...

and Netto (discount supermarket).

Maersk Training

Maersk Training provides specialist training to specific industries. The 2010 merger of Maersk Training Centre and Svitzer Safety Services broadened a portfolio of courses to include the maritime, oil and gas, terminals, and wind power industries. With Headquarters in Svendborg, the MT Group global locations include Aberdeen and Newcastle in the UK, Esbjerg in Denmark, Stavanger in Norway, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Chennai & Mumbai in India, Kuala Lampur in Malaysia. New centres include Houston, United States and Dubai, United Arab Emirates which is also the Middle Eastern hub.

Star Air

Star Air operates 11 leased Boeing 767 cargo aircraft, primarily engaged in long-term contract flying for

United Parcel Service United Parcel Service (UPS, stylized as ups) is an American multinational shipping & receiving and supply chain management company founded in 1907. Originally known as the American Messenger Company specializing in telegraphs, UPS has grown t ...

(UPS) in Europe. The Maersk corporate aircraft, a

Gulfstream 450 The Gulfstream IV (or G-IV or GIV) and derivatives are a family of twinjet aircraft, mainly for private or business use. They were designed and built by Gulfstream Aerospace, a General Dynamics company based in Savannah, Georgia, United State ...

, is also operated by Star Air.

European Rail Shuttle B.V.

In August 2013 Freightliner Group announce the acquisition of leading European intermodal rail operator and railway undertaking ERS Railways B.V. from Maersk Line. ERS Railways B.V. is a railway transport company headquartered in Rotterdam, providing cargo transport, mostly ISO

shipping containers A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated box design, corrugated b ...

World Robot Olympiad

World Robot Olympiad is a robotic competition headquartered in Singapore. Maersk Oil is currently a Gold sponsor of this event.

Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping

A group of leading industry players are taking the next step to develop new fuel types and technologies by launching the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping.

Maersk and Danish climate targets

In the total count, the weight of A.P. Møller-Maersk is extraordinarily heavy, as the shipping company accounts for over 80% of the danish top 30 companies' emissions of

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is trans ...

from operations, and in the overall calculation, the CO₂ reductions in many of the other

companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...

are therefore balanced by the fact, that Mærsk has increased

emissions Emission may refer to: Chemical products * Emission of air pollutants, notably: **Flue gas, gas exiting to the atmosphere via a flue ** Exhaust gas, flue gas generated by fuel combustion ** Emission of greenhouse gases, which absorb and emit rad ...

by 2% since 2019, with a total of 37 million

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...

s in 2021, but presented plans to be CO₂ neutral as early as 2040. Since the Danish

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...

targets of a 70 percent CO₂ reduction in 2030 are

territorial A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

based,

from foreign shipping and aviation from Danish ports and airports, and internationally, are not counted, as the responsibility lies with the UN's organizations for aviation ( ICAO) and shipping ( IMO), therefore the Maersk fleet is not obliged to make reductions, but instead pay through slightly higher taxes from the emissions, to a

fund Fund may refer to: * Funding is the act of providing resources, usually in form of money, or other values such as effort or time, for a project, a person, a business, or any other private or public institution ** The process of soliciting and gathe ...

based on

taxes A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, o ...

from the fleets use of

bunker fuel Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), ...

, which will be able to compensate and finance climate measures, a concept developed by the Ministry of Climate and the

Danish Maritime Authority The Danish Maritime Authority (Danish: Søfartsstyrelsen) is the agency of the Danish Government responsible for regulating and administrating Danish maritime affairs. The Danish Maritime Authority (DMA) is part of the Ministry of Industry, Busi ...

. In 2008, it was calculated by the DK Group, that the Maersk fleet together released just over one million

s of sulfur dioxide SO₂ per year from the fleets use of

, and at the time until 2014, when China Shipping Lanes took over by one meter and 20 percent less fuel emissions, the world's largest container ship Emma Mærsk emits SO₂ equivalent to 50 million cars. "''These are figures that are publicly available. But they have probably not really come to light because shipping has been totally unregulated. But when the biggest ships sail out, you have to imagine that 50 million cars will follow,"'' says Jørn Winkler, founder of DK Group. For example, there are filters that remove virtually all sulfur dioxide and

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

, but the price of a filter for a large container ship is DKK 25 million. By comparison, Maersk uses approximately DKK 46

worth of fuel per year (expenses deducted as a

cost In production, research, retail, and accounting, a cost is the value of money that has been used up to produce something or deliver a service, and hence is not available for use anymore. In business, the cost may be one of acquisition, in whic ...

in company tax calculations), and ''"In the past 20 years, it has been possible to remove the particles from the ships'

exhaust fumes Exhaust gas or flue gas is emitted as a result of the combustion of fuels such as natural gas, gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, fuel oil, biodiesel blends, or coal. According to the type of engine, it is discharged into the atmosphere through an ...

, but the will to do something is lacking,''" says Jørn Winkler in 2008. The

Danish Ministry of the Environment Ministry of the Environment of Denmark ( da, Miljøministeriet) is the Denmark, Danish ministry in charge of almost all matters concerning Environmental policy, environmental issues in Denmark. The head office is in Copenhagen. Created in 1971 as ...

has in 2009 initiated an action plan, where the requirement is that

SOx Sox most often refers to: * Boston Red Sox, an MLB team * Chicago White Sox, an MLB team * An alternate spelling of socks Sox may also refer to: Places * SOX, Sogamoso Airport's IATA airport code, an airport in Colombia Computing and technolo ...

and

NOx In atmospheric chemistry, is shorthand for nitric oxide () and nitrogen dioxide (), the nitrogen oxides that are most relevant for air pollution. These gases contribute to the formation of smog and acid rain, as well as affecting tropo ...

must be reduced using

desulfurization Desulfurization or desulphurisation is a chemical process for the removal of sulfur from a material. This involves either the removal of sulfur from a molecule (''e.g.'' A=S → A:) or the removal of sulfur compounds from a mixture such as oil refin ...

plants, the so-called scrubbers, to built into the ships' chimney systems. As shipping companies in Denmark have a special tax scheme – tonnage tax, which has been in force since 2001 to keep the shipping companies on Danish soil. Tonnage tax means that shipping companies pay a fixed tax or charge per ship, and the amount is thus not affected by the company's profit. With the tonnage tax, the shipping companies avoid the classic

corporation tax A corporate tax, also called corporation tax or company tax, is a direct tax imposed on the income or capital of corporations or analogous legal entities. Many countries impose such taxes at the national level, and a similar tax may be imposed a ...

of 22 percent, which other companies have to pay. The tax scheme means that in 2021, Maersk paid around 4% of a record-breaking

earnings Earnings are the net benefits of a corporation's operation. Earnings is also the amount on which corporate tax is due. For an analysis of specific aspects of corporate operations several more specific terms are used as EBIT (earnings before intere ...

of about 16,08

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

(117.5

Danish kroner) before tax, and expected to be DKK 270 billion in 2022. This compared to a deficit of DKK 3 billion in the company's accounts for the first half of 2009. – The first deficit in the group's history since

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, with an expected deficit for the whole of 2009 of DKK 10.7 billion.

Piracy

On the morning of 8 April 2009 the 17,000-ton was en route to

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

, when it was hijacked by pirates off the Somali coast. The company confirmed that the US-flagged vessel had 20 US nationals on board. This was the first time that the US had to deal with a situation in which Americans were aboard a ship seized by pirates in over 200 years. By noon, the Americans were able to resist the pirates and regain control of the ship. However, the pirates retreated on a covered life boat and held the captain hostage for four days. On 12 April 2009, it was confirmed that the captain held hostage was freed by the US Navy, whose SEAL sharpshooters killed three of the pirates. A fourth pirate surrendered earlier due to a medical injury. These events were subsequently dramatized in the 2013 film ''Captain Phillips'', directed by

Paul Greengrass Paul Greengrass (born 13 August 1955) is a British film director, film producer, screenwriter and former journalist. He specialises in dramatisations of historic events and is known for his signature use of hand-held cameras. His early film ' ...

, starring

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

in the titular role. Maersk Line estimated that piracy costs the company $100 million per year due to longer routes and higher speed, particularly near East Africa. As of 2010, all 83 Maersk tankers were diverting around the Cape of Good Hope south of Africa instead of going through the Suez Canal, although , the first of the Triple E-class vessels, successfully navigated the Suez during her maiden voyage.

Criticism

Labor practices in El Salvador and China

Trade unions and labor rights organizations have criticized Maersk's labor practices in different parts of the world. In El Salvador, Maersk has been accused of maintaining abusive conditions for port drivers. Charges include excessively long shifts, minimal wages and the repression of

freedom of association Freedom of association encompasses both an individual's right to join or leave groups voluntarily, the right of the group to take collective action to pursue the interests of its members, and the right of an association to accept or decline mem ...

by running

union-busting Union busting is a range of activities undertaken to disrupt or prevent the formation of trade unions or their attempts to grow their membership in a workplace. Union busting tactics can refer to both legal and illegal activities, and can range ...

campaigns, including firing and blacklisting at least 100 drivers in 2001. Globalization Monitor, a labor rights group based in Hong Kong, has reported poor labor conditions in Maersk facilities in

and Qingdao, China. In January and May 2008, respectively, two riots reportedly broke out amongst workers at the Maersk plant in Dongguan in protest of poor working conditions and employment terms. In April 2011, Globalization Monitor stated, "Maersk's plants in China are still far from satisfactory as long as labor and human rights are concerned." This although Danish news articles already in November 2009 brought results from a report made by an external work environment consultant Crecea which stated that the environment on the Maersk factory in Dongguan was above average in China.

Overcharging allegations of US Government in Iraq and Afghanistan

In response to a complaint from whistleblower Jerry H. Brown II, the US Government filed suit against Maersk for overcharging for shipments to US forces fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a settlement announced on 3 January 2012, the company agreed to pay $31.9 million in fines and interest, but made no admission of wrongdoing. Brown was entitled to $3.6 million of the settlement.

Violation of embargo on Sudan

In August 2010, the

US government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...

fined Maersk $3.1 million for violating its

embargo Economic sanctions are commercial and financial penalties applied by one or more countries against a targeted self-governing state, group, or individual. Economic sanctions are not necessarily imposed because of economic circumstances—they m ...

on Sudan. "Maersk had a waiver from the US government to deliver US Food Aid into Sudan so the US-flagged ship was in Port Sudan to deliver humanitarian aid," a U.S. government spokesman said, but "the booking systems did not identify cargo that was coming on and off the ship and that could be of violation of the embargo". The US government imposed a trade embargo on Sudan in 1997 due to human rights violations linked to the civil war between the north and south of the African country, and also because of the regime's alleged support of international terrorist groups.

Business with Iran

In July 2010, the advocacy group originally highlighted Maersk's ties to a blacklisted Iranian company, Tidewater Middle East Co. The firm suspended operations at several Iranian ports owned by Tidewater Middle East Co. Maersk operates in other Bangladeshi ports and also diverted shipments to Dubai, partnering with other Bangladeshi companies that are not bound by U.S. sanctions. On 28 April 2015, the Marshall Islands-flagged

''Maersk Tigris'', which was not owned by Maersk, was travelling westbound through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...

naval patrol boats contacted the ship, and directed it to proceed into Iranian territorial waters, according to a spokesman for the US Defense Department. When the

ship's master The master, or sailing master, is a historical rank for a naval officer trained in and responsible for the navigation of a sailing vessel. The rank can be equated to a professional seaman and specialist in navigation, rather than as a military ...

declined, one of the Iranian craft fired shots across the bridge of ''Maersk Tigris''. The master complied and proceeded into Iranian waters near Larak Island. The US Navy sent aircraft and a destroyer, , to monitor the situation. Maersk stated they have agreed to pay an Iranian company $163,000 over a dispute about ten container boxes transported to Dubai in 2005. The court ruling allegedly ordered a fine of $3.6 million.

Regulation violations and contract fraud

In October 2010, Maersk plead guilty to 8 counts of failing to provide adequate hours of rest and 1 count of failing to improve the situation. In February 2014, Maersk paid 8.7 million to settle allegations that it Maersk had forged documents on a contract to ship cargo to Afghanistan. The government says they uncovered 277 instances "in which claims verifying receipt of shipments in Afghanistan contained forged signatures." The settlement included no admission of guilt.

Sexual harassment suspensions and lawsuits

In May 2021, a Maersk officer's license was suspended after he was accused of sexual assault including abusive, unwanted, and inappropriate touching in violation of Maersk anti-harassment policy. On 12 October 2021, Maersk suspended five employees for their involvement in the rape of a 19-year-old girl. In June 2022, Hope Hicks, formerly known as "Midshipman X" filed a lawsuit against Maersk, alleging that the company failed to protect her from rampant sexual abuse. In the same month, a second US Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) student under the alias "Midshipman Y" filed a suit against Maersk, also alleging that the company did not protect her from sexual abuse and violence.

Pollution from fuels

In 2009, it was estimated that the Maersk fleet's use of

released sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, into the atmosphere corresponding to the

from 9 billion cars, with resultant serious health,

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

, and

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

impacts related. The health problem with bunker fuel (

heavy fuel oil Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) is a category of fuel oils of a tar-like consistency. Also known as bunker fuel, or residual fuel oil, HFO is the result or remnant from the distillation and cracking process of petroleum. For this reason, HFO is contaminate ...

), a type of oil used in 80 percent of the world's

merchant ship A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are ...

s in 2008, with a total consumption of 290 million tons per year is, that it has a very high sulfur content, which smokes directly from the chimney, after which it spreads and can make people sick or even be lethal," says Jørgen Brandt, who is a senior researcher at the Department of Atmospheric Environment at Aarhus University. Mærsk is aware of the extent of the problem. Ivan Seistrup, group vice-president in A.P. Møller Mærsk, stated in 2009: "Among other things, we have entered into close cooperation with

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...

on the development of biofuel for the shipping industry, which will constitute a technological quantum leap. One solution could be to sail on clean biofuel in

coastal The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in ...

areas, and then use bunker fuel in the open sea, where it does no harm."

NotPetya malware attack

On 27 June 2017 Maersk IT systems were the victim of a malware attack utilizing

, which was designed to appear to be a ransomware attack. The cyberattack was perpetrated by the Russian military cyberorganization, the

GRU The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...

, and designed to attack Ukraine, but in fact almost destroyed Maersk Shipping, the largest shipper of containers in the world. ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...

'' magazine described the malware attack as the 'Most Devastating Cyberattack in History.' In March 2020 Maersk revealed they would be terminating the employment and outsourcing the work of the UK based IT team that helped them successfully fend off and recover from the ransomware attack that shut down operations.

References

Citations

Sources

* 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. * * * * *

External links

* *
Maersk Line, Limited

Website of SVITZER A/S

Website of the shipping line "Maersk Line"

Website of Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Bio "Death"
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