A.P. Møller – Mærsk A/S is reorganising its headquarters into two distinct units – a Corporate Centre and service functions.
The Corporate Centre will focus on a number of Group governance activities like accounting, finance, IT, corporate relations and Human Resources.
The service functions will support the Corporate Centre and all business units in areas like procurement, IT-services, oil trading, technical operations and recruitment.
“The split will clarify responsibilities within the Group and we will place even more operational responsibility where it should be – decentralised in the business units. In addition, it will reduce complexity and save costs”, says Nils S. Andersen, Group CEO of A.P. Moller – Maersk.
The new setup means change to a number of activities and some will not continue. This will impact the number of employees in Group headquarters where 830 positions will be reduced by around 100. Of the remaining staff around 250 will be employed in the Corporate Centre and 480 in service functions.
“Having to reduce the number of employees is regrettable. But as the pressure on our business units increases, Group Functions also have to be more effective in order to strengthen the Group’s overall competitiveness”, says Nils S. Andersen.
In the coming weeks, the Group will consult with an employee committee about redundancies, including compensation for the employees who will have to leave. The new headquarters setup is expected to be finalised within the month of January.