On May 8th – 9th, Mr. Søren Skou, CEO of Maersk Line visited Panama, as part of his tour of Latin America, taking him also to Brazil. “The purpose of the visit was to have a first hand impression of the operational and commercial activities taking place in Panama, as head office for Maersk Line in Latin America, and to meet with key stakeholders for the Panama Hub system.
”Latin America was very important for our results last year,” said Mr. Skou. “Considering where we started in 2012, taking capacity out to keep costs down an working on managing our unit costs, fighting to keep rates at appropriate levels, and in spite of all that Latin America was able to make a positive contribution to Maersk Line. We did a really good job here in terms of improvements, probably one of the best regions in the world in this aspect,” said Skou.
During his visit, Mr. Skou met with the Panama Canal Authorities, including Mr. Jorge Quijano, head of ACP, as well as the Regional Commercial and Operational management for Maersk Line. As part of his agenda, Mr. Skou also met with the management of Panama Ports Company (PPC) and Manzanillo International Terminals (MIT), operators of the largest container terminals in the country, and had the chance of first hand experience of the progress of the Panama Canal Expansion Project by visiting the expansion site.
Regarding the visit, Robbert Van Trooijen, Maersk Line Chief Executive, Latin America and the Caribbean, said “Soren´s visit was well timed, and it underlines the importance of Latin America for Maersk Line. We had a great visit to the Panama Canal, and it increased our understanding of the current Canal expansion plans. We look forward to continue our discussions with the Canal Authorities and continue our good relations in the future”.
About Mr. Skou
Søren Skou (49) has been CEO of the Maersk Liner Business since 2012, which encompasses Maersk Line, Safmarine, MCC and Seago Line. He has been a member of the Executive Board of the A.P. Moller - Maersk Group since 2007.
Søren joined A.P. Moller - Maersk in 1983. Over the next decade and a half, he held various positions in Maersk Line, with roles in Copenhagen, New York and Beijing. In 1998 he joined Maersk Tankers, where he was CEO from 2001 to 2011. Mr. Skou is a member of the board of the Danish Shipowner’s association, and the responsible for the A.P. Moller Maersk Group’s Procurement, Oil Trading
and Maritime Technology. He is a graduate of the Copenhagen Business School and has an MBA from IMD. Mr. Skou is married to Lene Buus Skou, 3 children, lives near Copenhagen, Denmark.
About Maersk Line in Panama
Maersk Line is one of the leading Shipping Lines serving Panama. With more than 95 years of presence in the country, Maersk Line is one of the largest Panama Canal customers on the containerized trade segment, as well as one of the largest users of the Panama logistics hub (ports and interoceanic rail). “e commercial and operational headquarters for Maersk Line in Latin America are located in Panama.
For more on Maersk, visit http://www.maersk.com/
Maersk Training Brasil is putting their weight behind national taekwondo champ, Talisca Reis, after recently deciding to sponsor her for an international championship.
Ranked 19th worldwide in the under-53kg category, Reis is well on her way to participating in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
She’s already claimed gold medals at the Brazilian University Championships in 2008, 2009, and 2010 and a silver medal at the World Military Games in 2011, where she represented the Brazilian Navy.
Maersk Training Brasil took the decision to support Reis after seeing her dedication to her training and determination to compete at the highest levels.
Reis’s performance has already seen her placed among the world’s best and the sponsorship from Maersk Training Brasil will ensure she can remain competing at this top level.
Most recently Reis represented Brasil in the Canada Open in Toronto from the 2nd to the 5th of May.
Participation in international championships such as this one is necessary to gather qualifying points for the Olympics, so it was therefore important that Reis could take part.
But as the Canada Open lay outside the budget of the Brazilian Taekwondo Federation, Reis had to find her own funding to participate. Many athletes in this situation dipped into personal savings in order to compete. But luckily for Reis, Maersk Training Brasil was able to sponsor her to ensure she could make her mark on the world stage.
And while Reis’s prospects on the taekwondo front are bright, she’s currently a sailor in the Brazilian Navy and evaluating the possibility of a Naval career.
But for now at least, Maersk Training Brasil is proud to be behind such a promising athlete and wishes Reis all the best for her future competitions.
Talisca Reis Facts:
Member of the Brazilian national taekwondo team
Ranked 19th worldwide in the under-53kg category
Gold medal – Brazilian University Championships (2008, 2009, 2010)
Silver medal –Military World Games 2011 (representing the Navy of Brasil)
Silver medal – Pan American championship 2010
Silver medal – South American Games 2010
5th place – Paris Open 2012
For more on Maersk Training in Brazil go here: http://mrsk.co/16dZvIk
A SOLITARY SEARCH FOR ANSWERS
Most people would not choose to work inside a refrigerated shipping container, much less live in one. Barbara Pratt is different; she spent her twenties doing both, and as a result helped revolutionise the reefer business that today enables food and other perishables to be shipped around the world.
“We knew so little about refrigerated shipping back then,” says Barbara Pratt, director of refrigerated technical services for Maersk Line in North America, reflecting on her adventure inside a converted reefer container in the name of science.
“A customer would put 20,000 kilos of fresh fruit in a reefer container, send it across the Atlantic for 30 days, and the reasons for its condition upon arrival were largely unknown to us,” says Pratt.
“With the ‘Mobile Research Lab,’ the converted container Sea-Land built, we set out to learn all how to improve the quality of long-distance shipments. And it turned out I spent the better part of seven years living and working in that container,” says Pratt, who today is 58 years old and lives in a house.
Apples to apples
Barbara Pratt is a farm girl. She still works on the family farm she grew up on – 180 acres of apples, peaches, pears, nectarines, even Christmas trees, just an hour north of New York City and Maersk Line’s office in nearby Madison, New Jersey.
She was a 20-year old student at Cornell University studying physics, biology, chemistry, computer science and maths when she discovered the University’s Vegetable Crops Department. It was the match she had been looking for, an interesting and fulfilling outlet for applying her love of science.
Pratt graduated from Cornell University in 1976 with a degree in physics and was accepted into the University of Delaware’s “Post-Harvest Physiology” graduate programme, but turned it down. Her former Cornell professor had offered her a job – a special project for Sea-Land, the container shipping company founded by Malcolm McLean, the inventor of the shipping container.
Soon after, the ‘Mobile Research Laboratory’ was born, and Pratt never went back to school. Instead, she spent much of the late 1970s and early 1980s inside a container, throwing light on the little-known science of refrigerated transport and enabling the creation of much of the technology and best practices used in the industry today.
Life in a container
The ‘Sea-Land Mobile Research Lab’ was actually a converted 40-foot shipping container, modified by a company specialising in mobile homes to create a totally self-contained research centre equipped with living and office space.
And because it was a standard container, it could be loaded onto vessels, trucks and barges – anywhere customers’ cargo could go.
At one end of the container was the lab, equipped with a computer and a variety of technical instruments for taking and analysing food and atmosphere samples up to 150 temperature points. At the other end was the living area with two bunk beds, a microwave, refrigerator, shower and a small office space. A diesel generator, fuel and water tanks ensured continuous power and heat.
In a terminal, on a farm or in an orchard, Pratt and her partners took turns sleeping to keep an eye on the computers. Bulletproof glass in the door window was a precaution given the duration of stays in certain places and the expensive equipment inside.
In her years in the lab, Pratt studied over 100 different commodities, frozen and fresh, testing and monitoring temperatures, mapping airflow in the container, humidity, respiration rates of fruit and vegetables, fungus growth and more.
“We worked with several customers as well, to solve specific problems. General Foods wanted to know why cocoa and coffee beans from the Dominican Republic were occasionally arriving in the US mouldy. We did some tests, tweaked the temperature and ventilation and eventually patented a new container design,” recalls Pratt.
Pratt is quick to point out that she “was not the only one doing this research back then,” though her colleagues are just as quick to praise her work.
“She has been in this business longer than most people, including everyone on our team,” says Henrik Lindhardt, head of innovation in Maersk Line’s reefer management team.
Lindhardt produced the original 1977 ‘Sea-Land Mobile Research Laboratory’ advertising brochure (picture above) from his desk, with a picture of Barbara in a white lab coat working in the container lab:
“The Sea-Land team led the way on reefer back then, and there’s no question the R&D she was doing helped lay the foundation for what we know today about refrigerated transport.
According to Lindhardt, it was Pratt’s findings from her time in the lab that led to a lot of changes in reefer container design and packing methods customised for the particular ventilation, air flow and temperature needs of a variety of fresh produce.
Today, Pratt heads Maersk Line’s refrigerated technical services team in North America, Maersk Line’s and the world’s largest import/export region for fresh produce.
If a container malfunctions or cargo is spoiled and no one knows why, it’s Barbara and her team who receive the call to unravel the mess. They are the fixers, providing real-time support to Maersk Line operations, sales and customer service.
She calls her transition from the lab to technical services a natural progression.
“Today, I prefer solving the problems, working on the logistics and serving the bigger picture – the customers and the business,” she says.
It was Barbara’s research and development of strict standard operating procedures that enabled Maersk Line to begin accepting shipments of blood plasma. Volumes are small, but very profitable.
“I don’t see myself retiring. I think with global population growth, the need for a year-round safe and transparent food supply will only increase,” she says.
BY JOHN CHURCHILL
For more on the entire Maersk Container Industry, visit http://mrsk.co/13IDlt7
Ever since Mark Q was introduced, the design has constantly evolved to optimise cargo care and minimise repair cost.
Earlier, there were a multitude of different reefer container designs. Each owner had his own specification. Sometimes, the differences between designs were down to minor details. Sometimes, it would entail a totally different design. As a result, the container manufacturing industry used to resemble workshops rather than a high-tech modern mass-production facility.
Mark Q changes the game
In 2008, after analysing M&R data and following extensive consultations with customers, MCI came up with the Mark Q reefer container. Mark Q was intended to be a better and cost-effective reefer container that met the following requirements:
The lowest Cost of Total Ownership (TCO) A rugged reefer, resistant to impact and cost-effective to repair. Not just focusing on the initial cost when buying a new container, but also on the M&R costs during the entire working life of a reefer.
A reefer container for optimal cargo care. To focus on the exporters’ needs, including insulation and hygiene.
A standard reefer container developed for industrial production. To avoid unnecessary costs, streamline production and to ensure consistently high quality.
Mark Q did not spell the end of some customised designs, but it became the platform from which customers’ designs could develop. Much like car manufacturers now have a common platform used to make different makes and models of cars. Mark Q is therefore still MCI’s reefer container platform today. When MCI in San Antonio, Chile comes on stream in 2014, the platform will also be Mark Q.
The Mark Q concept was a success from the start, as customer involvement in the design phase helped bring acceptance across the industry. The success was such that MCI changed to the Mark Q for 100% orders faster than even the most optimistic projections. To date, MCI has produced more than 180,000 Mark Q containers.
Mark Q continues to evolve
Mark Q was never intended to be a final design, and over the years it has evolved – it is a “living design”; optimised through constant dialogue with customers regarding design improvements. One focus is always to optimise the design to lower M&R costs. In recent years, the focus has also been on optimising interior space to make it the least bacteria-prone container in the industry.
Mark Q construction is based on detailed repair statistics
A key component in the development process is MCI’s access to a comprehensive database of detailed repair statistics.
MCI continuously analyses repair statistics to better understand typical damage patterns and areas that are particularly prone to damage. This is very valuable for the development process, as it shows where it is necessary to redesign, add or remove material or change gauges to improve the box without adding tare weight or reducing insulation values.
As an example, the base and the lower part of the side panels are prone to impact during operation, potentially causing delamination. Raising the base and strengthening it with 7 cross- members, and adding a 3 mm scuff plate to the lower part of the side panels, has eliminated the frequent damage delimination problems in this area, according to customer feedback.
Read this article in the latest Integrated Reefer News magazine here: http://mrsk.co/XZBLie
See more on the various Maersk reefers and containers here: http://mrsk.co/13iE1EP
It’s not new for Nils S. Andersen, the Group CEO, to take questions and answer them on camera. However, taking, and answering, questions over social media channels, is something new for him.
During Nils S. Andersen’s visit to China in late March, he engaged with Maersk employees, industry professionals, students, and general public in a new way - through Sina Weibo, the most popular Chinese social media platform with over 250 million users.
‘It’s exciting for me to be able to reach so many of you directly here today thanks to new technology,’ said Mr. Andersen when greeting Maersk Group’s Weibo followers on video.
Hundreds of questions
The Weibo campaign, called ‘Dialogue with CEO’, is yet another way to engage with the Maersk Group’s stakeholders in China.
One week ahead of Mr. Andersen’s visit, a post on the Maersk Group Weibo main page asked followers to post questions for him to answer. Feedback was very positive and hundreds of questions were raised.
In a video interview, Mr. Andersen addressed the five most frequently asked questions; including on the Group’s performance, the outlook for the shipping industry, Triple-E vessels, talent development, and in particular, Maersk’s strategy in China.
‘Fantastic opportunities in China’
‘Opportunities continue to be fantastic in China,’ said Mr. Andersen, confirming once again the Group’s commitment to China.
‘The extra quality we have in our people, our organisation and our international network will help us to play an even more important role in the future,’ he said.
The video is being posted on Maersk Group’s Weibo page to reach tens of thousands of followers in China, who are keen to learn more about the Group.
CEOs communicating directly on social media channels have proven to be an effective way to reach wider audiences.
Written by Bonnie Huang, Group Relations
See Nils S. Andersen’s interview on YouTube here: http://mrsk.co/147Bm5f
Maersk employee, Louise de Villiers, recently witnessed a pivotal event when the Maersk Traveller called the tiny port of Luderitz in Nambia where she works.
This is a historical occurrence for Luderitz as very few Maersk vessels have called the port during the history of its operation.
The Safmarine Linyati also called the port on March 5th this year.
As shown in the pictures below, Maersk Traveller came to deliver oil well equipment for HRT.
These photos were kindly shared by Louise.
If you want to know more about the entire Maersk Fleet, go to http://www.maerskfleet.com/
In a first-of-its kind test, Star Cool refrigeration containers from MCI have been entrusted with preserving a unique wooden structure on a site listed by UNESCO as a world heritage landmark.
The wooden structure is a basement storage cellar dating from around 1180 and located in the German city of Lübeck. At the time, the city was a prosperous commercial centre for Baltic Hansa trade.
“This basement is one of the largest and best-preserved medieval cellar constructions in Northern Europe,” says Maruchi Yoshida, an independent conservator associated with the Fraunhofer-Institute for Building Physics and Leibniz-Gemeinschaft who is managing the container project, ARCHe.
“Star Cool was chosen because of its extremely precise temperature and atmospheric control. Such precision is a must if you want to preserve sensitive cultural assets like wet organic structures,” she says.
The old cellar came to light in 2012 during a large-scale archaeological rescue excavation (2009-2014) in the old city area where developers are planning a new luxury housing complex. Now, the cellar has been carefully moved to storage in a Star Cool reefer for further analysis and conservation.
According to Maruchi Yoshida, the Lübeck pilot test may hold promise for the future.
“We are looking at a business plan for a company that, at short notice, can provide conservation services and reefers upon the sudden discovery of new archeological sites. There is also potential in the salvage of cultural assets following natural catastrophes and conflicts.
Such a company would benefit both urban developers and cultural heritage care offices, but above all the society to which the cultural heritage belongs,” she says.
Some things haven’t changed since 1180. The cellar stored crops like hops that were used for beer production. In other words, beer was enjoyed both then and now in Germany.
- This article was taken from Integrated Reefer News, which you can read here: http://mrsk.co/XZBLie
I arrived on board Maersk Barry with few expectations. Instead I wanted to see what a seafarers life might offer. Going snowboarding in Vancouver was a nice surprise and my first ocean crossing over North Pacific to China didn’t disappoint either. We followed a combined great circle and rhumb-line track from Vancouver to the Gulf of Alaska then across to the Bering Sea via Unimak pass and back south to the Sea of Japan. A great circle is the shortest distance between two points on a globe and it could also allow us to sail North and avoid the worst storms the Pacific has to offer, although judging by my experience that was doubtful.
The voyage has taken a month to complete. The storms we encountered waited for no person or ship, instead you have to keep the ship heading into the wind and waves and just wait. The worst conditions lasted no more than a day or two and provided a good opportunity to gain steering experience towards achieving my steering certificate. During these conditions it’s better to manually steer than rely on auto pilot. When I first stood at the wheel and took the helm I was nervous. I’ve maneuvered myself through eight foot surf but these waves were eight meters high, and more, according to our Chief Officer’s estimations. Eventually I began to understand how the ship responded and I enjoyed predicting which waves would have the most power so I could take early action to keep us on course.
I was surprised how safe and withdrawn from the elements I could feel inside the accommodation. To go on deck was too dangerous so everybody was confined to working inside. Only when I occasionally went outside on the bridge wing did reality hit me like a force 12 hurricane wind. My body quickly adapted to the rolling and pitching and it no longer bothers me. The opposite is true now and I laugh each time I slide back and forth at my desk, or rise out of bed and stumble across my cabin.
As we approached the big white mountains of the Alaska coastline I was relieved of my watch keeping duties by another cadet. We spoke about wishing to see whales whilst in Alaska, then at breakfast 10 minutes later I received a call from the cadet on the bridge to inform me of whales swimming nearby.
We passed several fishing vessels so I grabbed the IRPCS book and started reading how to identify different types of fishing vessel by day and night, and the responsibilities of each vessel. I was able to practice using the automatic radar plotting aid (ARPA) function on the radar monitor to track vessels nearby and monitor the closest point of approach (CPA). There’s never a shortage of acronyms to remember.
There are some drawbacks to being at sea, like missing my home country. Wales beat our friendly neighbours England recently to win the Six Nations Rugby Championship, but thankfully we can use the Internet on board to keep us up to date with news from home. Our next destination is China to discharge the cargo and visit a shipyard to repair damage sustained by the powerful waves - yet another opportunity for me to experience a different place.
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For information about a career at sea, go to our Maritime applications page: http://mrsk.co/maerskcareers
When I think about why I decided to take up a career in the maritime sector it all boils down to the options I had at the time of applying. It’s also the fact that I had never thought about it before and it was something unknown. What sold it for me is that I could travel all over the world and while I may not see many places, I can say I have been there, even if it is just the port I see. I also chose this career due to the life skills I will acquire through becoming an officer and taking on responsibility.
The reason I decided to apply to Maersk was partly due to the fact I hadn’t looked at other companies but mainly due to the professionalism and work ethic and that it’s kind of like one big multinational family. I felt that I wanted to be part of something this big, something that reached from one side of the world to the other. I am not sure what to expect as I have just about finished my first phase but I’ll be finding out which vessel I will be going on in a couple of weeks. At the moment it’s the not knowing where I will be going that is killing me. I believe I will have a bit of a panic about what I need to take and what I should leave at home.
For the voyage I think I’m going to keep myself occupied by completing Pokémon a few times, as well as the gym. Or maybe a beard growing competition but I will most definitely lose to more experienced beard growers.
Being away from home for 3 months or so won’t be too bad as I am currently living away from home while I’m at college; I’ll also have Facebook or Skype or just emails to keep in touch. Although I think I will get a bit homesick while I adjust to a completely different lifestyle while at sea.
My current long term aims are to get my Class One done as soon as I possibly can, then depending on how I feel I would love to do a MEng in Marine Engineering and work towards Chartered Engineer status. I may completely change my mind once I finish my EOOW. Its early days still. I don’t think I will be at sea my entire career; I would like to come ashore at some point and go into something like management.
I can imagine I’m going to have a lot of interesting experiences that will challenge me. The most interesting thing I’ve done so far was in a plant workshop where I had to manually pump a Bryce Berger’s hydraulic starting unit for a Rolls Royce Emergency Generator. It was fun controlling the throttle, although I am glad that the emergency generator will usually be automatic, unless something goes wrong. It doesn’t half tire you out pumping the hydraulic fluid. This week I think I’ll be looking at the bilge pipe system and how it operates and such.
All in all the first phase has gone by smoothly; I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it and am glad I chose to pursue a career in the Merchant Navy. I can’t wait to see what this first sea phase will bring.
If you want to know more about a career at sea, go to maritime applications on our website, here: http://mrsk.co/SfteKG
Shipping has so far not benefitted from the research and development that has turned biomass into one of the world’s most important sources of renewable energy. Two projects involving Maersk aim to change that.
With an annual fuel bill of USD 7 billion for vessel operations, the Maersk Group must continually consider ways to reduce its bunker fuel consumption. Greater efficiency is the primary way of achieving this; alternative fuels are another.
Two current projects are focused on realizing the marine fuel potential of one of the world’s most abundant and sustainable biomass resources: lignin.
Potential in a relatively uncharted area
In nature, lignin is a complex organic polymer found in plants. The more lignin there is in wood the sturdier and stronger it is and the more efficiently it burns. But lignin is also released in large quantities as a residue during the production process of paper as well as advanced bio-ethanol.
“Lignin has a variety of industrial uses already because of its chemical characteristics, energy content and its abundance; yet its potential as a marine diesel fuel is a relatively uncharted area,” says Peter Normark Sørensen, with Maersk Oil Trading, the Maersk Group’s oil buying arm.
In February, Maersk signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Progression Industry—a spin-off company of Eindhoven University of Technology—to develop a viable marine fuel from lignin that meets stringent parameters on price, technical performance, sustainability and emissions.
Opportunities and challenges in biomass
A separate project called ‘Biomass for the 21st Century’ is co-funded by the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation and involves Maersk , DONG Energy and several other companies and academic institutions.
Professor Claus Felby at the University of Copenhagen is leading the project, which is also looking at lignin as a potential marine fuel as well as other sustainable sources of biofuel with consideration for logistics and scale production challenges.
A detailed report released in September outlined the scope of the project. “If either of these projects is able to make a biofuel that meets our requirements that would be very exciting and could let the industry and markets focus on the challenges that would follow—the scale and logistics required to make it a commercial alternative,” says Maersk Oil Trading’s Normark.
Maersk will buy 50,000 tonnes
The agreement between Maersk and Progression Industry states that if Progression can produce a lignin based fuel that meets Maersk’s criteria then Maersk will buy 50,000 tonnes of this fuel.
“For the past 75 years, the shipping companies have used oil, but looking at the next 75 years this is likely to change. In the longer term oil is simply going to run out, so we need to start looking for alternatives,” says Jacob Sterling, head of Environment and CSR in Maersk Line.
“The great thing about biofuels is that they would not only secure a future fuel supply, they will also greatly reduce our CO2 and SOx emissions ,” says Sterling.
For more on Jacob Sterling and Maersk Line’s focus on alternative fuels and sustainability go to Maersk Line’s Route 2 website: http://mrsk.co/13x0aUb