Speaking at Singapore Maritime Lecture Mr Søren Skou, CEO of Maersk urged governments to end their financial support for shipping lines’ subsidies. He explained that subsidies result in overcapacity and reduced profit in the shipping sector.
Mr. Skou did not indicated a specific country or company, but noted that there are cases where companies are building vessels that are not needed, for companies who don’t have decent profit.
Recently, global shipping rates are declining, something that makes it difficult for operators to recover after a crisis which caused a large number of consolidation among shipping lines.
Maersk’s CEO also mentioned that significantly increased fuel costs and capital investments are expected as a result of the 2020 sulphur cap.
Regarding cybersecurity, Mr. Skou emphasized the need for a comprehensive plan and underlined a three stage approach:
- Strong defence in the form of robust detection software;
- The ability to isolate future incidents from affecting the company’s global system;
- The diligence in backing up data to rapidly rebuild systems.
Talking about technology and digitisation, Søren Skou said that digitisation on the container industry culture would be positive. He explained that with digitalization, companies can improve customer experience with online booking systems, supply chain ecosystems, as well as new industry standards for downfalls and no-shows reducing costs and delays.
