JOC Staff | Dec 19, 2011 9:34AM EST
Soren Skou, newly appointed CEO of Maersk Line, is no stranger to growth and consolidation in shipping.
As chief of Maersk Tankers since 2001, Skou engineered an expansion that saw the operator grow at a double-digit pace in recent years. The growth included the addition of some $3.5 billion in new ships, including the Very Large Crude Carriers that have helped reduce shipping rates in the tanker industry.
Skou also was one of the executives behind the agreement to consolidate tanker capacity announced this month between Maersk Tankers, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and three other tanker businesses. The operators agreed to a pool of some 50 supertankers that will control about 12 percent of that market.
At 47, Skou has spent his career at A.P. Moller-Maersk operations, starting as a management trainee in 1983. He was Maersk Line’s operations manager in China from 1994 to 1998 and moved to Maersk Tankers in 1999.
Beyond Maersk, he is vice chairman of the board for DFDS, the Copenhagen-based shipping and logistics operator.
