shipping founded 1928 headquarters copenhagen denmark area served worldwide key people soren skou ceo revenue 31.18 billion 2015 owner a.p. moller maersk group . number of employees 23 000 2015 website maerskline.com maersk line is the global container division and the largest operating unit of the a.p. moller maersk group a danish business conglomerate . it is the world s largest container shipping company having customers through 374 offices in 116 countries . it employs approximately 7 000 sea farers and approximately 25 000 land based people . 1 2 maersk line operates over 600 vessels and has a capacity of 2.6 million teu . 3 the company was founded in 1928 . 4 contents 1 history 2 fleet 3 sustainability 4 services 5 management 6 see also 7 references 7.1 notes 7.2 bibliography 8 external links history edit at the beginning of the 1920s a.p. moller considered possibilities of going into liner trade business . the tramp trade where vessels sailed from port to port depending on the demand was expected to lose ground to liners in time . on 12 july 1928 the vessel leise m rsk left baltimore on its first voyage from the american east coast via the panama canal to the far east and back . the cargo consisted of ford car parts and other general cargo . this heralded the start of maersk s shipping services . maersk line began to grow in 1946 after the second world war by transporting goods between america and europe before expanding services in 1950 . on 26 april 1956 ocean borne container transport was introduced with the shipment of a sea land container aboard the ss ideal x from port newark new jersey to houston texas . in 1967 anglo carrier p & o was part of the first european initiative a pooling of liner services from four companies into the new company overseas containers limited ocl . both sea land and p & o would later be taken over by maersk line as it expanded operations between 1999 and 2005 . 5 in 1999 maersk entered into an agreement on acquisition of safmarine container lines scl and its related liner activities from south african marine corporation limited safmarine . at the time of acquisition safmarine container lines operated approximately 50 liner vessels and a fleet of about 80 000 containers . it covered a total of ten trades and fully complemented maersk line s existing network . safmarine container lines joined the a.p. moller maersk group as an independent unit with its own liner activities . on 10 december 1999 the a.p. moller group acquired the international container business of sealand service inc. the business was integrated with the a.p. moller group companies and as part of the integration maersk line changed its name to maersk sealand . the acquisition comprised 70 vessels almost 200 000 containers as well as terminals offices and agencies around the world . in may 2005 maersk announced plans to purchase p & o nedlloyd 6 for 2.3 billion euros . 7 at the time of the acquisition p & o nedlloyd had 6 % of the global industry market share and maersk sealand had 12 % . the combined company would be about 18 % of world market share . maersk completed the buyout of the company on 13 august 2005 royal p & o nedlloyd shares terminated trading on 5 september . in february 2006 the new combined entity adopted the name m rsk line the willemswerf building the former nedlloyd and p & o nedlloyd corporate headquarters in rotterdam . currently the home of maersk lines european operations . at the time the company was folded into a.p. moller it owned and chartered a fleet of over 160 vessels . its container fleet consisting of owned and leased vessels had a capacity of 635 000 twenty foot equivalent units teu . royal p & o nedlloyd n.v. had 13 000 employees in 146 countries . by the end of 2006 maersk global market share had fallen from 18.2 % to 16.8 % at the same time the next two largest carriers increased their market share msc went from 8.6 % to 9.5 % and cma cgm from 5.6 % to 6.5 % . 8 9 10 in january 2008 maersk line announced drastic reorganisational measures . 11 in november 2015 after lower than expected results maersk line announced its decision to lay off 4000 employees by 2017 . the group said it would cut its annual administration costs by 250 million over the next two years and would cancel 35 scheduled voyages in the fourth quarter of 2015 on top of four regularly scheduled sailings it canceled earlier in the year . 12 as of october 2015 maersk line along with its subsidiaries of seago mcc safmarine and sea land controls a combined 18 % share of the total container shipping market . 13 fleet edit as of july 2011 maersk line fleet comprises more than 600 vessels and a number of containers corresponding to more than 3.8 million teu twenty foot equivalent unit 14 in 2006 the largest container ship in the world to date the e class vessel emma maersk was delivered to maersk line from odense steel shipyard . 15 seven other sister ships have since been built and in 2011 maersk ordered 20 even larger container ships from daewoo the triple e class each with a capacity of 18 000 containers . the first of these triple e class ships was delivered on june 14 2013 and was christened with the name m rsk mc kinney m ller after the founder of the maersk line . 16 sustainability edit in 2011 12 maersk line cooperated with the us navy on testing 7 100 % algae biofuel on the maersk kalmar . 17 18 from 2007 2014 and mainly due to slow steaming maersk line reduced its co2 emissions by 40 % or 11 million tonnes about the same reduction as the rest of denmark . 19 services edit maersk line is best known for its coverage across the globe . other than its main trade lanes of asia europe and trans atlantic trades maersk line also offers extensive coverage between south america and europe as well as to africa . the company also pioneered the innovative concept of daily maersk in 2011 which provided a premium guaranteed service between supply ports of china and european base ports . despite support from the trade maersk line was forced to cut down services due to over supply . 20 21 recent restructuring of its product have included upgrades to their asia australia india to west africa and china to america routes . 22 23 24 other than the main trades maersk line also operates many continental trade lines . it operates its intra south east asia through mcc container lines europe through seago lines and recently re launched the famous sea land service brand for its intra americas trade lanes . 25 management edit on december 19 2011 it was announced that s ren skou will take over as ceo of maersk line from eivind kolding effective from 16 january 2012 . 26 27 the management board led by s ren skou is responsible for the daily management and the members are as of january 2015 28 s ren skou chief executive officer vincent clerc chief commercial officer s ren toft chief operating officer jakob stausholm chief strategy finance & transformation officer vincent clerc chief trade & marketing officer michael chivers head of human resources see also edit a.p. moller maersk group list of largest container ships cma cgm maersk line container tracking references edit notes edit alphaliner top 100 operated fleets as per 25 september 2012 . alphaliner . retrieved september 25 2012 . flemming emily hansen september 25 2012 . maersk to cut capacity and raise rates . wall street journal . retrieved september 25 2012 . company facts and information . maersk line . retrieved september 25 2012 . about us milestones . maersk line . retrieved september 25 2012 . a ride on maersk line . retrieved 26 october 2015 . macalister terry 2005 05 10 . maersk and nedlloyd in bid talks . the guardian . london . retrieved 2010 03 21 . 1 notes of the p & o nedlloyd shareholder meeting 27 july 2005 urquhart donald . maersk line s market share declines in 2006 the business times marshall cavendish 29 january 07 liner shipping report axs alphaliner january 2007 adobe acrobat . pdf document kennedy frank . shipowners order new vessels worth record 105.5 b in 2006 gulf news 12 02 2007 2 interview with ceo december 2007 maersk line to cut 4 000 jobs as market deteriorates . retrieved 26 november 2015 . a ride on maersk line . retrieved 26 october 2015 . maersk line facts on www.maerskline.com maersk line . maerskline.com . retrieved 2009 07 20 . http www.maerskline.com link page news & path news story page 13 first triple e maersk and the navy join hands for biofuels testing geiver luke . 3 biorefining magazine 21 november 2011 . accessed 13 december 2011 . nielsen jakob 6 april 2015 . maersk vil sejle l ngere p literen maersk goes further on the gallon . politiken . retrieved 8 april 2015 . premium daily maersk service abandoned . retrieved 19 january 2016 . maersk line enhances daily maersk offerings . retrieved 26 october 2015 . mesawa from maersk line . retrieved 26 october 2015 . maersk line upgrades servvice . retrieved 26 october 2015 . mol trumps maersk for reliability but does arriving on time matter any more . retrieved 26 october 2015 . sealand a famous name returns to the seas . retrieved 26 october 2015 . bloomberg danske bank names chairman kolding ceo announcement december 19 2011 s ren skou will take up the position as ceo of maersk line management on www.maerskline.com bibliography edit george rose 2013 . ninety percent of everything inside shipping the invisible industry that puts clothes on your back gas in your car and food on your plate . new york metropolitan books henry holt and co. isbn 9780805092639 . greve majbritt ; hansen michael w ; schaumburg m ller henrik 2007 . container shipping and economic development a case study of a.p. moller maersk in south east asia . copenhagen copenhagen business school press . isbn 9788763002134 . hornby ove 1988 . with constant care a.p. m ller shipowner 1876 1965 . copenhagen j. h. schultz grafisk . isbn 9788756923583 . jensen lars 2014 . culture shock in maersk line from entrepreneurs and kings to modern efficiency . copenhagen vespucci maritime publishing . isbn 9788799726929 . jephson chris ; morgen henning 2013 . creating global opportunities maersk line in containerisation 1973 2013 . cambridge uk cambridge university press . isbn 9781107037816 . larsen thomas ; mortensen finn 2011 . m rsk mc kinney m ller the danish shipping magnate a personal portrait in interviews . copenhagen gyldendal business . isbn 9788700788565 . middlemiss norman l. 2005 . maersk line . merchant fleets 45 . gateshead tyne and wear uk shield publications . isbn 9781871128260 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to maersk line . official website nautical portal companies portal denmark portal v t e maersk subsidiaries majority owned apm terminals brostr m tankers damco maersk drilling maersk fpsos maersk line maersk line limited maersk oil maersk supply service maersk tankers safmarine seago line svitzer associated companies h egh autoliners 37.5 % dansk undergrunds consortium 33.2 % dfds 31.3 % danske bank 20 % dansk supermarked 19 % maersk air history fleet destinations maersk commuter maersk air uk star air danair estonian air category commons retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title maersk line & oldid 740667059 categories maersk lineshipping companies of denmarkcontainer shipping companieshidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation