Maersk Line has inked contracts with Germany’s Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) and Denmark’s E.R. Schiffahrt to manage six boxships each, all of them between 2,500 and 11,000 TEU, in a benchmarking exercise.
Each shipmanager will handle crewing, technical operations, safety performance, environmental performance and energy efficiency on six Maersk vessels. E.R. Schiffahrt said that its contract was initially for a period of five years.
The initiative, Maersk Line maintains, is an attempt to “create efficiency gains for the whole fleet by learning from industry best practice”, according to head of Technical Operations Ole Graa Jakobsen.
“With 20 Triple-E vessels delivered and in regular service, and several large orders placed for new vessels to be delivered in the coming years, Maersk Line’s fleet is becoming larger and increasingly modern and efficient,” said Jakobsen. “At the same time, Maersk Line aims to continuously improve how ships are managed.
“We believe we are among the best ship managers and that our crews are among the best. But we want to verify and challenge this belief. We have therefore decided to contract third-party ship managers to take on the full ship management of 12 of our vessels for a period of five years.”
“We are proud to have been awarded this contract by Maersk in line with their aim to continuously improve management of their fleet,” said Norbert Aschmann, BSM ceo. “This is a significant vote of confidence in BSM and reflects our commitment to safety, operational efficiency and transparency and emphasis on the achievement of key performance indicators agreed with our business partners.”
Isabelle Rickmers, E.R. Schiffahrt management board member and head of new business, said: “This management mandate from Maersk Line confirms to us that we are on the right path. At the same time, it inspires us to demonstrate our performance on a daily basis and to continue to optimise it. We see our customers as our partners. Their requirements and needs are our main focus. With Maersk Line, we now have a strong customer at our side and look forward to a successful partnership.”
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