Asia/Pacific News
Maersk Line Sets Course for Chinese Import Business
One of the key opportunities for Maersk Line will be delivering products to China, Nils S. Anderson, chief executive of parent company A.P. Moeller-Maersk told CNN.
"We see exports out of Europe growing quite rapidly to China, and the same goes for the U.S.," he said.
"It could be branded products, food stuff, or even raw materials for production - more and more finished products go to China."
Calling the Chinese market "the most dynamic trade development in the world," Andersen said rising domestic consumption in the country has already led to an increase in imports.
Andersen said another key development for Maersk Line is the move toward mega-ships, with the first Triple E vessel set to be introduced this year.
The company, which has 20 of the 18,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU)-capacity vessels scheduled to start operating on the Asia-Europe route between July 2013 and 2015, expects the ships to reduce costs over time.
"I'd say the most exciting part of it may not even be the scale, but the fact that we will be able to transport containers from Asia to Europe with far less fuel," Andersen said, adding that fuel consumption could be cut by 30 to 50 percent.
In November, Andersen said the company is "building up a large organisation" in China to help customers export products to the country.
