Maersk Prepares Job Cuts as It Extends Reorganization
September 18 2020 - 12:07PM
Dow Jones News
By Costas Paris
AP Moller-Maersk A/S is undertaking a shake-up that could cut
scores of jobs as the Danish shipping giant moves to control costs
and simplify its business.
A Maersk spokesman said up to 27,000 jobs, or nearly a third of
its global workforce, could be affected but didn't say how many of
its 80,000 staffers world-wide could be laid off. People with
knowledge of the matter said the job reductions could involve
employees at Damco and Safmarine, operating units the company said
earlier this month would be integrated into the wider group.
"The reorganization is in process and we want to make sure that
our employees are informed first," the Maersk spokesman said.
Damco, which specializes in freight forwarding and logistics,
employs around 2,000 people and Safmarine, a container operator
that mostly serves Africa, employs about 1,000. The people said
there may also be redundancies at Hamburg Süd, the German container
line that Maersk bought in 2017 for $4 billion and that employs
4,500 people.
"Some will experience big changes, others small. Some are moving
to new jobs, and a smaller number will unfortunately become
redundant, which we take very seriously," Vincent Clerc, head of
Maersk's main ocean and logistics business, said in a
statement.
The shake-up was previously reported by Reuters.
Maersk is the world's biggest ocean container line, with about
17% of the world's oceangoing capacity, according to maritime
research group Alphaliner. The company has been under pressure by
shareholders to complete a reorganization that began in 2016 and
split its shipping and logistics operations from the company's
energy business.
Maersk Line, like other container companies, sharply curtailed
its shipping capacity at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic as
global trade pulled back under widespread community lockdowns
instituted to slow the virus's spread.
Maersk tripled its second-quarter net profit to $427 million
from $141 million a year earlier, strongly exceeding
expectations.
Write to Costas Paris at costas.paris@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 18, 2020 11:52 ET (15:52 GMT)
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