By Mark Edward Nero
As a response to both the short term and long term market outlook, Maersk Line is implementing a number of cost and efficiency initiatives, including cutting back on shipbuilding and eliminating jobs, the company said Nov. 4
Maersk Line, the world’s largest shipping company, plans to reduce its network capacity and postpone investments in new capacity, while the same time reducing operating costs by escalating already announced plans to, over the next two years, cut at least 4,000 jobs.
The company also stated that it is cutting back on shipbuilding plans that it announced earlier this year: it will now not exercise previously announced options for six 19,630-TEU vessels and two 3,600-TEU feeders and is postponing its decision on eight optional 14,000-TEU vessels.
“We are on a journey to transform Maersk Line,” CEO Søren Skou explained in a prepared statement. “We will make the organization leaner and simpler. We want to improve our customer experience digitally and at the same time work as efficiently as possible.”
The company currently has 23,000 employees globally and says it will eliminate the 4,000 positions through natural attrition and other means.
“We are fewer people today than a year ago. We will be fewer next year and the following year. These decisions are not taken lightly, but they are necessary steps to transform our industry,” Skou said.
