Maersk reportedly to be split into separate energy and transport units
Respected Danish newspaper Berlingske Business is reporting that it knows what the restructuring of the Maersk Group will involve. Not due to be unveiled until the end of September, Berlingske Business is claiming Maersk will be split into two distinct units, one focusing on transport and the other on energy.
While there has been much speculation that logistics unit Damco will be sold, the newspaper made no mention of this in its exclusive this morning.
“The new strategy is still at a conceptual level. But it looks as if it will come out at the end of September and a transport company and an energy company will be created,” a source with extensive knowledge of the process told Berlingske Business.
The make up of the energy unit will include Maersk Oil, Maersk Drilling and Maersk Supply Services while the transport unit will include Maersk Line, Damco, APM Terminals, Svitzer and Maersk Tankers.
Maersk officials declined to confirm the newspaper report when contacted by Splash today. Instead the group issued the following statement to this site: “We don’t want to comment on or anticipate the outcome of the investigation the Board of Directors has asked management to initiate. Management has been tasked to evaluate how the company’s agility and synergies can be further strengthen to ensure future growth. As the Chairman of the Board has communicated all options are being evaluated. The structure of the Group is one, but it is important to emphasize that it is one option out of many, as structure alone will not ensure growth. The Board of Directors will communicate on the progress before end of 3rd quarter 2016.”
At the end of June Nils Smedegaard Andersen made way for Soren Skou as head of the group. Skou has championed massive restructuring while leading the group’s containerline, Maersk Line.
The board at Maersk has spent the summer deliberating how to restructure the company given the likely protracted length of the current downturn both in offshore and containers. The group has been tight lipped on the matter, with chairman Michael Pram Rasmussen commenting just once on the matter, saying that “everything was in play”, and fragmentation was a possibility.
