Skou stepping down as Maersk CEO at end of year

The world’s second-largest container shipping operator is about to have a new boss. Soren Skou, the CEO of A.P. Moller – Maersk, will retire at the end of this year. 

Vincent Clerc, currently CEO of the group’s ocean and logistics division, has been appointed the new CEO, effective Jan. 1.

“Now is the right time for Maersk, for Vincent, and for me to make this transition,” said Skou. “The company has executed very well over the past years.”

Skou has been with Maersk for almost 40 years, serving for eight years as CEO of Maersk Tankers and for four years as CEO of Maersk Line before being appointed the head of A.P. Moller – Maersk in 2016.

Clerc has worked for Maersk since 1998. He was appointed Maersk Line’s chief commercial officer in 2015 and CEO of the ocean and logistics division in December 2019.

According to Robert Uggla, chairman of Maersk’s board, “The strong tailwinds that benefited the supply chain industries during the pandemic are coming to an end. With an increasingly challenging outlook, the board believes Vincent holds the right experience and capabilities as CEO to pursue and oversee Maersk’s strategic and organizational development in the years to come.”

During his six-plus years as the helm, Skou oversaw a dramatic transformation of the group. On the container shipping side, the company has focused on becoming an end-to-end logistics provider and not a commoditized ocean transportation provider. On the group side, it sold its energy divisions and transformed itself from a conglomerate into a pure logistics business.

The company expects this transformational strategy to pay off in the years ahead, as container shipping faces a slowdown.

Skou said on the latest conference call, “Our strategy is not to gain market share in ocean [shipping]. Our strategy is to gain share of our customers’ wallet of logistics spend. We expect to grow [the logistics] side of the business significantly faster than the market, despite the slowdown.”

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Source: freightwaves - Skou stepping down as Maersk CEO at end of year
Editor: Greg Miller