Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller dies aged 98

16 Apr 2012 - Shipping

Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller died today in the Danish capital of Copenhagen. Image: AP Moller Maersk

• Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller was the owner of worldwide shipping, container and oil company AP Moller Maersk

Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller, the owner of the world’s largest shipping company, A.P. Moller-Maersk, has died at the age of 98.

The shipping magnate passed away in his sleep at around 5am this morning in the Danish capital of Copenhagen, spokesman Michael Christian Storgaard told Bloomberg earlier today.

“On behalf of the whole family I wish to express our deepest sorrow at the loss of our father, grandfather and great grandfather,” said his daughter, Ane Maersk Mc-Kinney Uggla.

“My sisters and I have lost a father who never failed neither his family nor his business.”

Mc-Kinney Møller became joint owner of the company Firmaet AP Møller in 1940, and took up the reins of the Danish oil and shipping giant following the death of his father Arnold Peter Moeller in 1965.

Mc-Kinney Moeller ran the Copenhagen-based firm for a period of 38 years before stepping down as the company’s chairman at the end of 2003.

At the time of his death, Mc-Kinney Moeller was Chairman of the Board of the AP Møller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foundation, the AP Møller Relief Foundation and the Maersk Employee Foundation, all of which are significant shareholders of AP Møller-Mærsk.

Mc-Kinney Moeller helped to build AP Moller-Maersk into Denmark’s largest company, with annual revenues topping US$60 billion last year. The company employs over 100,000 people in over 130 countries.

Arnold Peter Moeller founded the business with one second-hand steamship in 1904.