A.P. Moller - Maersk
Leadership History
3 leaders · 2007 to present
Vincent Clerc is the CEO of Maersk, in the role since 2023. The first chief executive was Nils Smedegaard Andersen, from 2007.
| Name | Role | From | To | Years in role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vincent Clerc | Chief Executive Officer | 2023 | Present | 3 |
| Søren Skou | Chief Executive Officer | 2016 | 2022 | 6 |
| Nils Smedegaard Andersen | Chief Executive Officer | 2007 | 2016 | 9 |
A.P. Moller - Maersk is a Danish integrated logistics group headquartered in Copenhagen. It operates a fleet of roughly 700 container vessels (owned and chartered), port terminals through APM Terminals, and a logistics network spanning warehousing, forwarding, customs and air freight. Its A and B shares trade on Nasdaq Copenhagen, and the Møller family's holding company, A.P. Møller Holding, is the controlling shareholder. The company is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Maersk earns money in three segments. Ocean ($34.975 billion of FY2025 segment revenue) sells container transport on contract and spot terms across global trade lanes. Logistics & Services ($15.103 billion) charges for forwarding, warehousing, customs brokerage, inland trucking and air freight, usually under multi-year customer contracts. Terminals ($5.339 billion) collects handling and storage fees at APM Terminals ports used by Maersk and other carriers. The strategy is to sell these as one integrated supply-chain offer, so customers buy more than a single ocean leg.
Chief Executive Officer
2023 – Present
3 years (current)
Launched the Gemini Cooperation with Hapag-Lloyd (from February 2025) after the 2M alliance with MSC ended, and pursued corporate cost reductions.
CEO since January 2023, previously CEO of Ocean & Logistics. He has continued Maersk's integrator strategy, launched the Gemini Cooperation with Hapag-Lloyd and led overhead cuts including about 1,000 corporate role closures announced in 2025.
Chief Executive Officer
2016 – 2022
6 years
Skou led the monumental transformation of Maersk from a diversified conglomerate into an integrated global container logistics company. He divested Maersk Oil to TotalEnergies and Maersk Drilling, shifting all focus to supply chain logistics.
Under his tenure, Maersk successfully navigated the pandemic supply chain crisis, generating record-shattering profits in 2021 and 2022 while fundamentally repositioning the company's long-term corporate identity.
Chief Executive Officer
2007 – 2016
9 years
Andersen navigated the severe fallout of the 2008 global financial crisis, executing rigorous cost-cutting programs and consolidating operations across the conglomerate's diverse shipping and energy divisions to restore profitability.
He stabilized the company's balance sheet during a decade of severe overcapacity in global shipping, paving the way for the later structural separation of the energy assets.
Ocean profits swing with freight rates: Maersk earned $29.2 billion in 2022, then $3.8 billion in 2023 as rates normalized. New container-ship deliveries keep adding capacity, which can pressure rates once trade-lane disruptions such as the Red Sea diversions ease. Logistics & Services margins have been thinner than management targets, and the green-fuel transition requires heavy investment in dual-fuel methanol and LNG vessels while low-emission fuel supply remains limited.
Key chief executives include Arnold Peter Møller (1904 to 1965), Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller (1965 to 1993), Jess Søderberg (1993 to 2007), Nils Smedegaard Andersen (2007 to 2016), Søren Skou (2016 to 2022), and current CEO Vincent Clerc (2023, present).
Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller led the company for over three decades, expanding it into container shipping in the 1970s, building Danish oil and gas operations (Maersk Oil), founding APM Terminals, and establishing Maersk as Denmark's largest and most revered corporate empire.
Søren Skou transformed Maersk from a diversified industrial conglomerate into a focused global container logistics integrator, orchestrating the multi-billion-dollar divestments of Maersk Oil (to Total), Maersk Drilling, and Maersk Tankers, and acquiring Hamburg Süd.
Vincent Clerc, a French-Swiss executive who joined Maersk in 1997, held executive leadership across trade management and commercial operations, serving as Chief Commercial Officer and CEO of Ocean & Logistics before becoming Group CEO in January 2023.
Robert Mærsk Uggla, great-grandson of founder A.P. Møller and grandson of Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors, ensuring strong family stewardship and alignment with the controlling A.P. Møller Foundation.
Patrick Jany serves as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of A.P. Moller - Maersk, bringing extensive international finance leadership from Swiss specialty chemicals company Clariant.
Upon taking leadership in 2023, Clerc executed rigorous cost-saving measures, reduced headcount by over 10,000 roles, optimized vessel sailing speeds, renegotiated logistics contracts, and forged the Gemini Cooperation with Hapag-Lloyd.
Maersk is guided by five foundational corporate values established by founder A.P. Møller: Constant Care (take care of today while preparing for tomorrow), Humbleness, Uprightness, Our Employees, and Our Name.
Vincent Clerc serves as CEO, taking over in 2023 from the highly successful Søren Skou (who famously sold off Maersk's massive oil drilling division to focus purely on logistics). Clerc's absolute primary mandate is executing the massive "Integrator Strategy"—using the massive billions generated during the pandemic to acquire e-commerce logistics companies and entirely replace Maersk's massive fleet with green-methanol ships.
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