Asia/Pacific News
Maersk Sees Demand Growth in Exports to China
Container shipping company A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S (Maersk) is preparing for growing consumer demand from China over the next decade, CEO Nils S. Andersen told Bloomberg News.
"We're investing in our China set-up as we're building up a large organization there so we can be ready to help customers who want to export to China," he said.
"We can already register the trend as we're seeing rising Chinese imports."
Andersen said Maersk, which currently sends empty containerships to China to transport the nation's exports to the rest of the world, is hopeful about the nation's efforts to reduce its reliance on exports and encourage consumer demand.
China's exports rose 11.6 percent over the past year, to $176 billion, while imports rose just 2.4 percent to $144 billion, but the expansion of trade has slowed.
"In about 10 years I think we may reach a level where there's more of a balance between container goods going into China and leaving China," Andersen said.
Of Maersk's 108,000 world-wide employees, 12,500 are based in China or Hong Kong.
Shipping routes from Asia to Europe have been weak spots for companies including Maersk in recent months.
