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Maersk abandons mega ship ordering to focus on liner acquisitions

AP Moeller-Maersk has revealed plans to stop ordering new containerships and instead turn its attention to acquiring shipping lines.

Maersk Group chairman Michael Pram Rasmussen told Bloomberg that the company "is done with ordering new steel".

He said no longer made sense to order new ships as there are already too many in the market.

"So if we want to grow, we need to do it through acquisitions so that we don't flood the market with more ships," he said,

Maersk Line still has 27 ships in its order book, corresponding to 12 per cent of its current fleet. The container industry's combined order book represents 17 per cent of the global fleet.

"It has previously made a lot of sense when we went out and ordered specific vessels," Mr Rasmussen said. But "there's already a large order book in the market and at the same time, world trade isn't growing a great deal."

While he declined to comment on specific targets, he said options include shipping lines that operate mostly on trade routes overlapping with Maersk's, which will "give us a lot of synergies".

"It's also looking at rivals who are strong "in an area where we aren't at present, so "there are still a holes" in Maersk Line's network, he said.

The company has just revealed a new strategy that includes splitting the conglomerate into a transport and an energy company. Mr Rasmussen said. adding that the shipping line is "well-equipped and ready", for acquisitions.