Maersk wins IMO 2013 Sustainable Development Award
… Sets for Asian attack
Maersk won the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) 2013 themed award: Sustainable Development – IMO’s contribution beyond Rio+20 in support of the IMO’s theme for World Maritime Day for 2013, at the 25th annual Seatrade Awards ceremony held in London recently.
The award ceremony was held at the historic Guildhall, London, with over 350 of the maritime industry’s key players celebrating the outstanding contributions made over the last year in shipping.
Head of Environment and Corporate Social Responsibility at Maersk Line, Mr. Jacob Sterling, received the award from the IMO Secretary-General, Mr. Koji Sekimizu. on behalf of A.P. Moller – Maersk.
In his acceptance speech, Jacob spoke about the importance of sustainability in shipping: “Sustainability is becoming an integral part of the way we do shipping and how we have to do shipping in order to be successful. We need to be energy efficient not only to reduce CO2 (carbon dioxide), but also to save costs and thereby improve profitability. We need to be a responsible global citizen not only because it is the right thing to do, but also because it helps us foresee and mitigate risks to the business.”
Sterling went on: “We also see it as a great opportunity to help our customers reach their sustainability targets. In 2012, Maersk Line reached its 2020 target of reducing CO2 emissions by 25 per cent per container (20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) from its benchmark 2007 levels – eight years ahead of time. Maersk Line is now targeting a 40 per cent reduction in CO2 per container (TEU) by 2020.”
The Seatrade Awards programme promotes significant contributions and pioneering achievements from the industry.
The independent judging panel chaired by the IMO Secretary-General selected the winners of the 2013 awards.
Meanwhile, Maersk boss Nils Andersen has pledged to defend his group’s boxship market share in the face of price-cutting from competitors.
And he said that the aggressive tactics are coming from Asian lines, rather than European rivals as in the past.
“There is a price war on the route Asia – Europe and we do not know when it stops,” Andersen said.
He said that Maersk was simply adjusting prices according to the market, not engaging in similar actions.
But he said: “It is necessary to defend our market share.
“I’m not pointing fingers at individual players. But where it has traditionally been European players who have been most aggressive, we are now seeing pressure in the form of additional capacity and price cuts from Asian companies.”
Maersk Line made a return on invested capital of four per cent, compared to a loss of 12.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2012.
The overall first quarter profitability of the AP Moller–Maersk group was down a third to $790million, compared to $1.175billion a year ago.
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