Maersk has announced plans to stop its practice of ordering new ships to increase capacity, instead opting to grow through acquisitions in an effort to reduce the long-standing overcapacity problems in the industry, reported Bloomberg.
Michael Pram Rasmussen, Chairman of A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, said: “If Maersk Line needs to grow, it doesn’t make sense to order new ships as there are already too many ships in the market,
“So if we want to grow, we need to do it through acquisitions so that we don’t flood the market with more ships.”
That’s not to say the order books for shipbuilders will dry up immediately; Maersk is still awaiting delivery of a further 27 ships, having led the industry into the era of mega-ship building. However, Rasmussen has confirmed the company “is done with ordering new steel.”
PTI Edition 69: The Mega-Ships Edition
Soren Skou, CEO of A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, said: “There are already enough ships in the world,” echoing Rasmussen’s sentiments, while also announcing plans to split the company into two separate entities in an effort to return to profitability.
One will focus on shipping and transport, the other on oil and energy, reported Ship & Bunker. Rasmussen said: “”Separating our transport and logistics businesses and our oil and oil related businesses into two independent divisions will enable both to focus on their respective markets. This will increase the strategic flexibility by enhancing synergies between businesses.”
This comes after a rough 12 months for the world’s largest container shipping company, which was forced to cut 4,000 jobs and scale back its ship orders, following lower than expected profits.
PTI reported on September 22, 2016, that Maersk were enacting a historic two way company split into a ‘Transport & Logistics’ and Energy’, making it an integrated transport and logistics company with digitalised and individualised customer solutions
