Copenhagen, Denmark: Shipping company Maersk is gearing up to focus on services such as cold storage to avoid competing with its own freight forwarding customers as it expands into the non-ocean business.
Morten Engelstoft, chief executive of APM Terminals and member of Maersk’s executive board, told reporters: “The primary focus in the new Maersk is not the traditional freight forwarding business. We are much more interested in things like cold stores, data and digital solutions.”
Rather than investing in lorries and threatening the core business of large freight forwarding companies – many of whom are Maersk’s own customers – Engelstoft pointed to ‘cold chains’ as a more attractive investment.
Engelstoft cited the example of Costa Rica, an exporter of pineapples and bananas, that could benefit from a cold chain between its banana plantations and Maersk’s recently inaugurated container terminal on its Caribbean coast.
“Of course, Maersk needs to keep an eye on the fact, that a large part of our business is for freight forwarders,” Engelstoft said.
