Asia

Maersk, Singapore’s largest owner, set to grow its presence in city-state

Singapore: A.P. Moller-Maersk, famous for its containerline switching ports from Singapore to Malaysia over a decade ago, is already the largest shipowner by fleet size in the Lion Republic, and is set to get a whole lot bigger there.

Singapore is now the company’s biggest base outside its Danish headquarters.

According to Bloomberg, Maersk has around 120 ships under the Singapore flag, the most after 180 in Denmark.

Most of Maersk Line’s large orderbook of newbuilds are set to fly the Singapore flag, according to Thomas Knudsen, president of the Maersk Line Asia Pacific.

“There’s a maritime cluster around Singapore where you have access to pretty much all the different aspects of shipping,” Knudsen told Bloomberg. “The last five years we have really cleaned up to concentrate on fewer flags to get the economy of scale. You can definitely get lower cost if you go to Panama or Liberia, but we feel that Singapore is a good combination of cost and quality.” [07/03/13]

Splash

Splash is Asia Shipping Media’s flagship title offering timely, informed and global news from the maritime industry 24/7.
Back to top button