“Maersk is moving away from this vertical integration in order to simplify its business and make sure every business we are involved in is competitive”, told to Financial Times Maersk CEO Nils Andersen. Under the “vertical integration” policy cargo on Maersk Line ships would often go in containers manufactured by Maersk, on ships built by the group, through the group’s ports, manoeuvred by the group’s tugs and delivered by its trucks.
“We want to take this Maersk Line wake-up call and use it as an incentive to drive a simplification throughout the company,” he says. “We want to be easier to do business with for our customers; we want to have simpler administrative and business procedures. Part of the simplification is to steer group companies away from relying so heavily on other group members as suppliers and customers for their services.”, executive continued.
He also stressed that a highly vertically-integrated group runs the risk of becoming embroiled in cumbersome procedures and not being clear how each part is performing. That’s why Maersk plans to sell its non-strategic assets from which the company expects to raise $800m this year.
Also Maersk holds a 20% stake in Denmark’s Danske Banke, 67.7% stake in the company that owns Fotex and Netto supermarkets and a 37.7% stake in two Danish department stores. Both are regularly held up as examples of assets that could readily find a more natural owner than Maersk, but N. Andersen told that “We regard them as long-term investments, we manage them as independent businesses. So I think you can say we see them as part of the long-term structure.”