Maersk spurns shipping to invest in high yield oil, terminals

DANISH shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk plans to diversify investments away from shipping and into higher yield oil and terminals, CEO Nils Smedegaard Andersen told Denmark's' Berlingske Tidende newspaper.

Large scale investment in Maersk Line over the last 20 years has meant containership fleet is a big as it can get, and with falling profits in that division, the company plans to invest where the return is better, he said.

"Maersk Line has given bad yields. Our focus will be oil and terminals, among others," said Mr Andersen. "Our oil business and terminals continue to grow significantly faster than the market,"

Mr Anderson also said that when global economies stabilise, the group does not plan to order more containerships, but charter them instead to increase flexibility.

Maersk Line has 70 container ships on order with a total capacity of 365,338 TEU, which equals 17.9 per cent of its existing fleet, according to Paris based AXS-Alphaliner.

(Source: News and Data Online)