Bruce Barnard, Special Correspondent | Apr 16, 2012 10:14AM EDT
Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller, the legendary Danish shipowner who helped build Maersk Line into the world’s biggest ocean container carrier, died today. He was 98.
“On behalf of the entire family, I wish to express our deep sorrow at the loss of our father, grandfather and great-grandfather, Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller,” Ane Maersk Mc-Kinney Uggla, one of his three daughters said in a statement.
“My sisters and I have lost a father who never failed neither his family nor his business.”
Moller, who was born on July 13, 1913, became joint owner of Firmaet A.P. Moller in 1940.
He took control of the daily management of the closely held A.P. Moller-Maersk group in 1965 following the death of his father Arnold Peter Moller, who founded the company with a secondhand cargo ship in 1904.
Moller was CEO of the Copenhagen-based group until 1993 when he stepped back from daily management to serve as its chairman until 2003. He still controlled the company through three family foundations that own more than 60 percent of its voting stock.
Two of Moller’s grandsons, Robert Maersk Uggla and Johan Pederson Uggla, joined the company in 2004. Robert Uggla, 33, who becomes CEO of the Svitzer towage unit on May 1, has been tipped as a future head of A.P. Moller-Maersk.
A.P. Moller-Maersk had revenue of $60 billion in 2011, mainly from shipping, including containers, tankers and port terminals and oil and gas production.
Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.