Sören Skou has been at the helm of Denmark’s largest corporation since 2016. He led the transformation into a company focused on transport and logistics. Now he is making room for a successor from western Switzerland.
The Swiss Vincent Clerc replaces Sören Skou, who managed the Danish Maersk group for around seven years.
As life goes: From next year, the Swiss Vincent Clerc will be in charge of the Danish shipping company AP Möller-Maersk. He replaces Sören Skou at the head of the group, which is the second largest container shipping company in the world. Clerc will be the first non-Danish CEO in Maersk’s 118-year history. And two years ago, the Dane Sören Toft switched from Maersk to the competitor MSC, which is based in Geneva. This year, the family company MSC rose to become the world’s largest container shipping company.
Falling freight rates
What both company bosses also have in common is that they are facing major challenges. In recent years, shipping companies have benefited from high demand and scarce transport capacities. The problems in the supply chains led to record high freight rates, which translated into lavishly bubbling profits.
However, prices for container transport fell. At the beginning of October last year, according to the industry service Drewry, it still cost a good 14,800 dollars to bring a container from Shanghai to Rotterdam. Currently, that has reduced to a good $1686. However, the freight rates are still higher than the prices that applied before the pandemic. For almost decades, the industry suffered from overcapacity and low freight rates. This could happen again. In addition, the fleet on CO applies2-to convert more friendly drives.
reorganization of the company
The 50-year-old from western Switzerland is a “professional Dane”. Clerc, married with two children, has been with the Danish shipping company since 1997 after completing a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Lausanne. He worked his way up, is said to speak good Danish and has headed the Ocean & Logistics division, which accounts for the bulk of Maersk’s business, since 2019.
Clerc’s predecessor, Sören Skou, became head of the shipping company in 2016 and has been with the company for almost 40 years. The 58-year-old Dane transformed the company from a conglomerate into a company specializing in shipping and logistics. The company is listed on the stock exchange but controlled by the Möller family. Skou said he had worked closely with Clerc for more than a decade, according to the release. He is ready to take the company to the next level.
On course
The fact that Clerc has spent his entire career at Maersk and has supported the strategic direction in recent years should indicate that there will be no major change of course. Maersk is committed to covering not only ship transport, but the entire logistics chain, from the producer to the end customer. Now the helmsman comes from landlocked Switzerland.