Embattled container line lost $600 million in Q1. Says restructuring is part of four-year-old process
Mike Weir
Friday, 01 June 2012
Maersk Line has announced that it is cutting 400 of the 2,200 staff who work in its global headquarters division, known as Centre. Around 250 of the job losses will be in Copenhagen. Chief Executive Søren Skou told Lloyd’s Loading List.com that staff, who are spread around the world, will be notified of the company’s intention towards them on 12 June but said job losses in the UK would be ’minimal’.He said that the move was geared towards improving Maersk Line’s financial health and that customers would not notice any change. In a press statement the company said the layoffs are part of a reorganisation process which has been underway since 2008, although it will not escape the attention of those affected that the Danish conglomerate’s container division has lost over a US$1 billion since the beginning of 2011."We are trying to make faster decisions", Skou told Lloyd’s Loading List.com. "We can always improve but it’s worth mentioning that we lead the industry in reliability and we know for sure that our customers appreciate that."We are scoring all-time high levels of customer satisfaction while increasing market share so our main challenge is financial, not in customer service."The press statement read: "This reorganisation follows the substantial changes Maersk Line has made to its global organisation (non-Centre) since 2008. This included de-layering, off-shoring of work to shared service centres, simplification of processes and empowering the frontline. The results have been good, but more can be done, and Maersk Line is now taking the next step making its Centre organisation more agile in order to strengthen Maersk Line’s focus on customers and markets."The company says the new management structure will lead to faster decision making and that execution and service tasks currently in Centre will be moved closer to customers in Maersk Line’s country offices.An Employee Consultation Committee will be established, which Maersk Line will consult about the expected redundancies as also required by Danish legislation. Maersk Line employs 25,000 people, including 2,200 in Centre. Centre locations include offices in Copenhagen, London, Singapore, Mumbai, Pune, and Manila.“We want to build a successful business that consistently delivers acceptable returns to its shareholders. This requires that we challenge ourselves to have as efficient an organisation as possible,” added Skou.
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