IT’S a well-known saying that ‘Turnover equals vanity. Profit equals sanity.’
Jack Welch, former CEO of corporate behemoth GE got this when he abandoned his maxim that every GE business had to be number one or number two in its sector or get out. Now Maersk has joined the club. CEO Nils Andersen was quoted in Tradewinds (17 Aug) as saying that Maersk will not chase market share at the expense of profitability. In a market obsessed with capacity utilisation, liner operators have typically slashed rates to increase volumes. Not any more. Not for Maersk anyway: “…when you cut rates the competitors follow.”
And no more newbuildings either. Thank goodness; Maersk has 20 Triple-E 18,000 TEU vessels on order for delivery in the next 3 years.
