To better serve customers and unlock growth potential in the logistics and services segment, A.P. Moller – Maersk, Denmark, will combine its offering for ocean products and supply chain services to offer more comprehensive end-to-end logistic solutions for cargo owners. 

Effective Jan. 1, 2019, Damco’s supply chain services and Maersk Line’s ocean product will be integrated and sold as Maersk products and services.

The integrated commercial organization will operate with one management team, one sales force, a strong product organization and one customer experience organization, headed by Vincent Clerc, chief commercial officer of Maersk. Klaus Rud Sejling, chief executive officer of Damco, Florham Park, N.J., will take on a new position as head of Maersk’s logistics and services products.

“Today, we are taking further steps in the transformation of our business on a structural level and how we go to market, enabling us to offer more solutions to our customers in a simpler way,” says Søren Skou, chief executive officer of A.P. Moller – Maersk. “Our employees play a key role in making this happen, and therefore, we are at the same time empowering our frontline organization who is closest to our customers.”

The regional organizations will be responsible for solutions engineering and product bundling.

Damco’s freight forwarding business, which serves customers requiring air freight or multi-carrier options in ocean freight, will continue to be run as a separate and independent business under the Damco brand. Saskia Groen In’t Woud will be chief executive officer of Damco Freight Forwarding; she is currently chief operating officer of Damco.

In addition to these changes, three of A.P. Moller – Maersk’s regional carrier brands, including MCC Transport, Sealand and Seago Line, will go to market as “SeaLand – A Maersk Company” as of Oct. 1. The simplified naming structure will help strengthen brand recognition and ensure clarity of choice for customers.

"This integration marks a big milestone on Maersk’s current growth journey toward operating as one integrated company. We are in a strong position to deliver solutions that meet our customers’ end-to-end supply chain management needs, thereby tapping into markets covering the whole journey from producer to consumer by building on our business strengths,” Søren Skou adds.