What Maersk Really Means About Global Integration

Mainstream business news reporters missed an important detail in the presentation given by A.P. Moller Maersk CEO, Soren Skou to shareholders last week.

Rather than stating that Maersk intends to compete directly with global integrators he said this:

“We're not going to be direct competitors to FedEx and UPS, but we will see them as peers. They are the global integrators in their industries and we want to become that in our industry.”

This is an important distinction, notes Michael Gravier, Associate Professor of Marketing and Supply Chain Management at Bryant University. (And a regular SCMR contributor).

“it's encouraging to see that even the traditional ocean carriage industry is responding to today's heightened customer-demand environment,” he said.

Meanwhile, Maersk made progress on the digital transformation of the core business, moving customer transactions online and digitizing the way assets are operated.

As reported in SCMR, a series of digital initiatives were launched during 2017 to accelerate the transformation of the industry from legacy paper-based, to digital customer-centric processes and services, enabling new product offerings.

These include the launch of Twill, a digital freight forwarder and Remote Container Management (RCM) for reefer customers; a partnership with Microsoft for cloud computing and digital product development; and a joint-venture with IBM to make trade easier for everyone, by digitising the exchange of information related to trade.

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