Maersk to save further 1 billion dollar
A.P. Moller-Maersk CEO Nils Smedegaard Andersen will cut costs by an additional 1 billion USD this year, to help it ride out the global financial crises. Smedegaard did not say, whether there will be further dismissals
"We need to control our costs better, and we have set up a target of cutting costs by1 billion USD this year in addition to already planned cost cuts. We cannot go on doing business as we have done up until now. With low oil prices and a tumbling container market characterised by overcapacity and loss-making freight rates, 2009 will prove to be difficult for most business units", says CEO Nils Smedegaard Andersen.
Failure to be cost-competitive will put the company's long-term survival at risk, Smedegaard wrote in the company magazine Maersk Post.
Nils Smedegaard does not say whether there will be further dismissals. He has earlier said that he would not rule out that this could be an option.
The cost savings will affect all areas. Also the thousands of subsuppliers will be affected.
"Our customers press for lower prices, and unfortunately we have to do the same to our
suppliers, because if we do not do that faster than our rivals we lose competitiveness", Nils Smedegaard Andersen said.
Source: A.P.Moller-Maersk