HELMSMAN

“It was not said directly, but it was obvious that when I came home from America, I would end up as number one if I behaved myself properly and was clever enough.”

Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller

– interview with Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller

You cannot just stop

When Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller finished his speech, it was obvious that the usually reserved and hardy businessmen from the management team were deeply moved by the senior shipowner’s simple message. As always, Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller’s speech was prepared down to the smallest detail. He had thought about each phrase and every passage was precise. Everything as it normally was. What was extraordinary though, was that the entire management team was assembled in his private home and that Mærsk’s speech contained so much emotion, and under way he even used the term ‘passion’ about the relationship to employees and the company. However, what particularly caught the audience’s attention was the occasion. That December day in 2003, Mærsk said goodbye.

Over the years, he had taken decisions which he had deliberated long over and then implemented them with powerful measures. The two companies, The Steamship Company Svendborg and The Steamship Company of 1912, he merged to A.P. Møller-Mærsk A/S, and the month before he had left the post of chairman and handed it to Michael Pram Rasmussen.

In his introductory words, Mærsk at the same time welcomed his leaders and laid the way for a farewell. “I have gathered you here today because I feel like the old skipper who leaves his bridge, but keeps his cabin and this has been the cabin, from where I, over many years, have gone up daily to the chairman’s bridge. Both my wife and I pipe you with our boatswain’s whistle and welcome you into our cabin.” After giving his version of the company’s history and unique expansion, Mærsk ended his speech to the management team with the words, “Finally. Thank you for coming into my wife’s and my cabin. Thank you for your cooperation. Thank you for your past efforts. Always remember the guiding star. And God bless you and your families.”

Shortly after, the gathering was over. The reins were symbolically handed to Jess Søderberg. One-by-one, the men left the villa and drove away with a feeling of sadness at having witnessed the culmination of a unique era, mixed with a deep admiration for the strength, power and character of the man for whom some had worked for several decades.

A scrawny boy

When Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller was a boy, there were not many who could have imagined he would grow to become an unrivalled, respected and sometimes feared leader figure in the company. Nor did his father, Arnold Peter Møller, who encouraged his son to choose the medical profession. “He would prefer that I should be a doctor. However, I had no interest in the medical profession. I was hooked on ships,” remembers Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller. When his father wanted his son to choose the medical profession, the explanation was simple. He was afraid that Mærsk was not physically able to cope with a career in shipping. “During an outbreak of Spanish flu, I had Spanish flu, diphtheria and scarlet fever. I lay in bed for nine or ten weeks and when my father wanted me to go back to school, he and the headmaster agreed that I was too scrawny, so I had to wait a year, and I did so. When my father did not wish me to follow in his footsteps, it was due to his fear that it would become too big a burden.” There was also a time when Mærsk suffered from back problems, and aged 13 he stayed at a clinic for five weeks. Later, he improved his physique with sports and became physically strong.

When it became apparent to his father that Mærsk had the strength and especially the will to work in the company, his son’s future plans were never again questioned, just as Mærsk never contemplated the idea of a different future. “There were years where one would like to be a train driver or a pilot, but from when I was 13-14-years-old, it was all about ships.”

Whether it is in the genes, no one knows, but Mærsk was born to a life of ships and the sea. As he put it in the speech to his leaders, for centuries his father’s family had found their livelihood on the sea and maritime: Grandfather, Peter Mærsk Møller was born on the Danish island Rømø in 1836 and went to sea at a young age. He took the mate’s examination in the then Danish town Flensburg, but after the loss of Southern Jutland in 1864, when Denmark was defeated by Germany, he would not live there and settled in the shipping town of Dragør, which is located near Copenhagen on the island of Amager. He steered great sailing ships, but one November night he was sailing onboard the ‘Valkyrie’ and she sunk in a storm off the Scottish coast, and it prompted him to change direction. In 1886, from the family’s new residence in Svendborg he bought a small steamer, and the funnel emblem was painted as a white seven-pointed star on a blue background as a reminder of a fateful night at sea. During a voyage, where he had his wife on board, she was taken seriously ill and Peter Møller Mærsk prayed for his wife and hoped to see a star as God’s sign that his wife would be all right. “The clouds opened and the white star appeared,” wrote Peter Mærsk Møller later in a letter and when he founded The Steamship Company Svendborg in 1904 with his son, Arnold Peter, he asked to have the white star painted on the funnel, and the rest is history. Peter Mærsk Møller, Arnold Peter Møller and Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller have all followed this guiding star, just as the seven-pointed star is a guide for the new generations of the Møller family and for the many employees in today’s A.P. Møller-Mærsk.

Role model

For Mærsk however, it was his father A.P. Møller and not the star that was his role model and inspiration in the early years. The two had a close relationship, which increased in intensity as it became clear that Mærsk would be successor and take over management of the company. From the outset, Mærsk followed, quite literally, his father closely. “He had big hands and big fingers. Therefore you did not hold his hand - you held his middle finger,” says Mærsk, who soon switched from walks on residential roads to yachting. “My father bought a schooner named Karama II. He bought the ship with that name and I went along on summer voyages.” Though they were a pleasure to go on, his father was a strict captain who demanded that Mærsk and his brother, Hans, be kept busy. Ideally, they should polish the brass. “My brother soon got fed up with the strict discipline, but I did not mind and got stuck in.” The voyages fortified Mærsk’s fascination with the maritime world.

The portraits of A.P. Møller often describe him as harsh and in the spirit of the times, he was also a father who could be strict and authoritative, just as in his capacity as a shipowner, he could be tough, but for his son he was primarily a mentor who Mærsk honours and has deep affection for. Therefore, when his father has come under attack over the years, the son has hit hard back.

Chassie

Naturally enough, A.P. Møller fits most of the description of what has shaped and formed Mærsk. With A.P. Møller’s abilities as an inventive entrepreneur, skilled merchant and bold decision maker, it is obvious that the father has had a tremendous impact on his son. Nevertheless, his mother, Chastine, has also left her mark and Mærsk mentions her with the same respect and tenderness. “My father’s best friend, Captain Rasmussen, was temporarily master on a ship named Russ, a big ship that sailed to the Gulf. Here he met an American girl, Effie, whom he married. Effie’s best friend was my mother, who was also American born. My mother came to visit on Hellerupvej, north of Copenhagen, where Captain Rasmussen and Effie lived and it was here my father and mother met each other. He went to America and married my mother in Kansas City, in the southern state of Missouri.” Chastine, or Chassie, as she was called, was born in Kentucky. Her father died before she was born, which was not a rarity in an age where many died prematurely. Her mother was a teacher and was therefore able to feed her only child. When Chassie moved to Copenhagen, mother and daughter continued to see each other. Chassie travelled to the USA and her mother came to visit in Denmark. Her mother died when she was onboard a boat bound for Copenhagen. As the steamer sailed into the harbour, Christmas trees had been tied to the mast tops for the occasion of Christmas, but the happy event was overshadowed by the death on board and the flag was flying at half-mast when the ship berthed.

If that was a tune played in minor, childhood as a whole was played in major. A.P. Møller’s success as a shipping magnate made it possible to create a wonderful environment for the family, first at Ehlersvej and then in the villa at Hambros Alle in the heart of Hellerup. For Mærsk, it is not the material things, but the impression of life that is clear when he thinks back on his parents and his siblings. “I had wonderful parents and many people came to visit. When the front door bell rang, ladies often came to visit in the afternoon, my mother was hospitable and on Sundays there were almost always people over. We children were not always happy about that and if we could see our chance, we would disappear!” Mærsk and his siblings raced into the garden or up to their rooms to escape the adult company and their eternal talking. Besides Mærsk, there was Sally and Hans and ‘after thought’ Jane. “Jane was born on New Year’s Day. We had been out for New Year’s Eve with Captain Rasmussen and his wife Effie. Next morning we were bustled out very early and we did not really understand why, but that day Jane came into the world. I was 12-yearsold and she was just a little baby, so she grew up in another time than myself.”

From Chassie the children received a special gift; the language of the world, English, which Mærsk later came to use when he participated in meetings and negotiations worldwide. He mastered the language to perfection. “We were not allowed to say anything at the dinner table, except in English and none of us were silent. My sister was admittedly a little shy, but she was a good girl, so she also learned to speak English.” In addition to Chassie speaking English to the children around the table, she spoke English with them in other contexts, as when American girlfriends were visiting the house, so all the children learned early to speak the language. Rather than rejoice over Mærsk’s ability, a couple of teachers at school tried constantly to correct his American accent. Although his mother came from the southern states and had an accent, it was not a southern accent, says Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller.

He went on two trips to the USA with his parents. The first time he was only year old, it was in 1914 and then there followed a trip in 1919, of which he remembers small episodes. One incident in particular is burnt into his memory. “I remember that my father bought a new car, an open seven-person Packard with 12 cylinders. I was out for a drive on the very first day. A man came driving up the hill, it must have been in Kansas City, and he gestured to us. He could not control his car and drove straight into the wing of my father’s new car. You remember something like that!”

A date cannot be put on when Mærsk’s special relationship with America was created, but with his mother’s background and travels to the USA, it would have happened early. “Already as a child, I had met many Americans and I had heard a lot about America. I learned at an early age to respect and love America. I also experienced that the Americans invited me do things where Danes did not. I saw Americans as relaxed and it was more casual in their homes.”

Apprenticeship

After school, Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller’s real apprenticeship began. With a secondary school leaving examination as ballast, he was employed by the company C.K. Hansen in 1930, where his father earlier in the century had been the senior manager of the chartering department. In C.K. Hansen the shipowner, Harhoff had a son who was of the same age as Mærsk and he received an apprenticeship with A.P. Møller. Over the next two years, Mærsk worked at C.K. Hansen, but he was never involved in company operations, presumably, because Harhoff felt he competed too much with A.P. Møller. Afterwards he went into his father’s business on Kongens Nytorv, where 150 men worked. In the control department, Mærsk received an insight into the accounts. Everything was done stringently and properly under the leadership of Mr. Winge, who as Mærsk remembers was passionately preoccupied with the horse-drawn fire engine and the change of guard at Amalienborg palace, and he rushed out whenever they passed.

When the head office in Copenhagen had to communicate with ships around the world, it often used telegrams. The more words, the more expensive was the telegram. Similarly, the so-called night letters to the USA should not exceed 25 words, which quickly taught Mærsk to express himself briefly and concisely. This ability he still masters.

Besides working full time in the office, he went to night school five of the six working days of the week and then prepared himself for the mandatory postings abroad. “It was quite obvious that you would be posted. It was not only the sons of shipowners who were posted. There were many young people who travelled to Germany, England and France to learn. That was how the system was. Young people, who wantedto work in shipping, were posted to learn. Usually they were posted for two years.”

In April 1933, Mærsk McKinney Møller was employed in the small shipping and shipbroker company Karsten Rehder in Hamburg, which was not one of his father’s business associates. Mærsk had found the broker himself, and he found a place to live during his stay. “I found a family where I could stay. Times were hard, so they rented a room out to survive financially.” Mærsk did not like staying with the family and he found a new room. “It belonged to a Swedish lady who was a little dissipated, I think she liked a glass or two, but I was busy in the office and worked in the evening, so I did not really notice. They were hard times and I thought that I should keep the company running by not using any money. I paid 15 pfennig for a portion of Bratkartoffeln, fried potatoes, in the evenings. When my father came to Hamburg, he thought that I looked terribly pale, which I did. However, I did not like the remark, so the next time he came, I paid two marks for sun lamp treatment, and then he said that I looked well again.” A.P. Møller often came to Hamburg, which was a hub for shipping, and the Danish shipowner would often attend meetings in the city.

During his stay south of the border, Mærsk absorbed new knowledge and he learned yet another language. Even today, he only needs a little practice before he again speaks good German. In hindsight, several times Mærsk has thought that he went to Germany at a very dangerous time in the country’s history. Many people took a fatal course in their fascination with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, who seemed to have the answers to how Germany could get out of a situation of wounded national feeling after their defeat in the First World War, economic recession, major social problems, and an uncertain political leadership. “To come to Germany during that period was risky for young people. Hitler had just appeared on the scene. There was high unemployment down there and here at home, but in Germany, you saw the Brown Shirts, who walked around the streets. They were in a good mood and they went around with shovels and did useful work. This might well impress a young man and I was about to be impressed, but somehow I turned 180 degrees and had an early aversion to what I saw. Thank God!”

London, Glasgow and Paris

After completing his military service, Mærsk came back to the head office on Kongens Nytorv. He worked here for a year, and then from New Year 1936, he was employed first in London, and later in Glasgow with Hogarth & Sons, a Scottish shipping company with approximately 50 steamers of 6000-8000 dwt, many of which sailed into Indian waters. The next destination for his training was Lazard Brothers & Co., a commercial bank in London, before Mærsk’s international schooling ended with a stint at the refrigerated shipping company Louis Martin in Paris, who had a reefer built at the A.P. Møller-owned Odense Steelship Yard. Professionally he did not get as much out of his stay in France as he had in Germany and England. He stayed with a good family with four children and he ate with the family. After the war, Mærsk always visited the family when he was in Paris. The husband died relatively early, but the wife lived to be 95.

While he resided in Paris, Chassie and A.P. Møller came to visit. They lived in the modest Hotel Regina, which still exists. It is located on Place des Pyramides, near the Louvre.

On his return Mærsk was entitled to sign for the company and quickly gained more responsibility and a group of employees to lead, but the impending career path waiting on Kongens Nytorv was abruptly interrupted by the German invasion of Denmark on April 9th 1940. “My father had sensed the Germans were coming. We sat with others in the office on the night of April 9th and wrote instructions to ships around the world about what they should do. He wanted me to travel to Sweden the same day and from there to the USA to protect our interests, because it was from America that we should try to hold the company together.” Mærsk would not because of his Danish military service, so he only left Denmark in late May, after he had quickly been married to Emma Marie Neergaard Rasmussen and was made a partner in the company A.P. Møller. On departure, the situation looked dangerous in Europe. The Germans marched into the Netherlands, Belgium, and France and were heading towards the English Channel and the British had to urgently evacuate their out-numbered troops. The war seemed almost over, but fortunately it was not. “Thank God for Churchill and Britain”, as Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller puts it today. Spearheaded by their Prime Minister, the British managed to stand alone for the next year until December 7th 1941, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour and the USA entered the war.

What now?

For Mærsk and Emma Mc-Kinney Møller it was dramatic to leave Denmark at such short notice and go to America, where Mærsk should hold the company’s fleet together. He remembers clearly the feeling when he and Emma on June 10th 1940 sailed into New York harbour with views of the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island. Europe was burning. The company’s future was uncertain. A completely new life was waiting. “What now?” As he puts it.

In New York Mærsk was to meet with A.P. Møller’s cousin, Hans Isbrandtsen, who after the German invasion of Denmark received power of attorney that gave him control of the company A.P. Møller’s ships outside of domestic Danish waters. In Mærsk’s words, it was an emergency measure that Isbrandtsen received power of attorney and was trusted with the ships. Mærsk is not keen to talk about exactly what went wrong when he arrived in New York in 1940, but “with Isbrandtsen it was very quickly like that”, he says and presses his clenched fists together. Hans Isbrandtsen had possibly his own plans with the power of attorney or perhaps he had no faith in the young shipowner son from Copenhagen. In any case, the result was that Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller quickly came to stand in an extremely stressful situation. It only improved when A.P. Møller stepped in from Copenhagen and transferred full power to his son, who then had the right to control the company’s ships, many of which were later commissioned by the Americans and deployed into war service.

Economically Mærsk and Emma had problems. “There were accounts in my father’s and my name with enough funding, but when Denmark was occupied all deposits in banks were frozen to prevent the Germans from using the funds. Hans Isbrandtsen of course also had some of my father’s money, but I received nothing from him.” It took a while before Mærsk had the economic situation sorted out. Once it became clear to him that he could not stay with Isbrandtsen, he rented a small two-roomed office measuring 55 square metres.

Thorkil Høst from the company on Kongens Nytorv had left Denmark as early as April 9th and via the Far East had arrived in America. He worked with Mærsk in the office and was an invaluable aid.

“We could not get a license to do anything connected with shipping. We established ‘The Moeller Trading Company’ that had very little to trade with and not many customers,” reads the laconic statement from Mærsk today.

Similarly, his wife Emma had to start over in the strange city largely without any preparation, but she also took up the challenge. “Yes, she quickly learned how to do things. I remember her going out to buy bedding, and we had been told that Macy’s was the best place. It was big and cheap. However, inside there was always ten customers who would go to the same shop assistant. You could not get near. Everybody pushing and shoving. Here my wife learned to push back and say, ‘It is my turn!’ She learned to cope.”

Apart from Thorkil Høst, Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller knew almost no one who could help him and in the first four years, the connection back to A.P. Møller in Copenhagen was virtually non-existent. “I went to see the names I could remember from home and I met a shipowner who invited me to lunch at the India House Club, which is a fine lunch club downtown. I asked how you could join and he replied that he would nominate me.” Through the membership, Mærsk had a base from which he could begin to get to know business people and he had made good connections, including the Danish ambassador in the USA, Henrik Kauffmann, who was important in order to move forward. Step-by-step he fought his way back and later it was not least because of that willpower and Ambassador Kauffmann’s efforts that ships still afloat were returned and awarded damages for use and loss, which was vital to strengthen the company after the war. During the war, 150 of the company’s seamen lost their lives and of the 46 ships at the outbreak of war, only 21 remained after the cessation of hostilities, and they all needed to be thoroughly overhauled.

In the midst of this difficult time that constantly brought forth challenges, Mærsk and Emma managed to create a life as a family. Upon arrival, they moved into the Vanderbilt Hotel on the so-called Penny Side of Park Avenue, located down from Grand Central Station on Manhattan. “It was only the name of the hotel which was impressive,” he dryly says today. However, after a month residing at the hotel Mærsk found a show apartment on the seventeenth floor of a building nearby. He and Emma had no furniture, so he agreed with the house owner to buy all the furniture in the apartment, so they ended up acquiring a fully furnished two-room apartment. The furniture was only for display and low quality. Later the couple and daughters Leise and Kirsten, both of whom were born in America, lived well. In 1941, Mærsk bought a house in Larchmont, north of New York. It cost USD 11,250 and was equipped with a large living room, a small dining room, a kitchen and a maid’s room - “only we had no maid” and a first floor with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The house had no insulation at all, but because of the war, the American authorities introduced oil rationing and so everybody were all suddenly busy insulating their houses, which were often built with wooden planks. Between the planks on the outside and inside wall, there was a space with air. Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller remembers clearly how a company came and drilled a hole and pumped insulation into the cavity. It worked: the living room temperature crept up, while oil consumption plummeted.

Love for America

Despite the many problems and challenges, Mærsk and Emma thrived in the USA and when they were to return home in November 1947, Mærsk remembers how the tears ran down his wife’s cheeks. Both could easily have stayed in America and made a lifelong existence in the country, but it was never a realistic possibility. “It was always on the cards that at some time we would go home. My father wanted me home. He was getting on in years and wanted some relief.”

When Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller left America, he took a lot with him. “Firstly, I learned to face difficulties and get through them. There were always challenges, even after Denmark had been liberated. We reopened the liner traffic as quickly as possible, but it was not easy, there was much to be overcome.” Mærsk could feel on his father the desire and energy to overcome problems, but he also mentions this trait in connection with his mother, “Do not give up! All that is worth doing, is worth doing well. Never give up.” Chassie was like this too, stresses the son.

The stay in the USA strengthened Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller’s love for the country and some of his most precious friendships have been with Americans. One of them was Thomas Watson Jr., the son of the founder of IBM. Mærsk met the Watson family at a dinner party at a mutual acquaintance in Denmark, Tyge Rothe, whom Mærsk and his wife Emma saw quite often, while both families lived in the USA. Later Mærsk and Emma took a sailing trip on the Swedish Göta Canal and the great Swedish lakes in the company of Thomas Watson Jr. and his family. “Here we really got to know each other. They had their children along and sometimes they were on our boat, sometimes our girls were on their boat. We visited them in America and became close friends. I asked him for advice on business. There was a time when our liner traffic was only costing us money and at a meeting at the Links Club in New York, I asked Watson what to do in this situation. He replied, “Mærsk you carry on!” Fortunately, I followed his advice.”

Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller had special access to the top of the international business world when he was invited to join the board of the US computer giant IBM, as the first and then only foreigner. The position gave an extraordinary insight and led to meetings with a number of America’s most talented business people. “It was an incredible experience and very valuable. The board consisted of eminent Americans, all first class people. There were 11-12 board meetings a year and I would come to nine of them. From the beginning I said that I could not promise to participate in more than nine.” The simple reason was that Mærsk could not devote more time because work pressures on developing the family company in Denmark became more extensive. For the same reason, over the years he has consistently said no to work on boards for other companies, with one exception, Egmont, which Mærsk went into because of family connection. “I have always said that I am not going on boards. It was hard enough to be responsible for the company and I would not sit and play clever on other boards. When you are a ‘constant care’ person who does not do anything superficial, it requires time to sit on boards. I have had offers from America and Europe, but have always declined.” Nevertheless, he recalls with delight the interaction with Thomas Watson Jr. and the IBM board. “I met talented, clever, and straight people and heard what they said. If you do not draw lessons from it, you are crazy and of course, I did. It was rewarding for me and they said I was a valuable board member. Whether it was a compliment or whether it was true, I cannot answer.” Thomas Watson Jr. Could, though. In an interview published in the daily business newspaper Børsen in 1988, he said, “If you had asked the other board members to identify the member whom they considered to be the most capable, there is little doubt that around the table they would all have pointed at Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller.”

Home to Kongens Nytorv

Back on Kongens Nytorv, a new era had arrived, where Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller should fall into the role with his father as boss and mentor. Today when Mærsk is asked what he learned from his father in this period concerning making decisions and exercising leadership, he replies promptly, constant care! “Always constant care, hard work and common sense! Get decent people. Get to know the ships.”

The further training and schooling, which he received from his father, was never formalised. Nevertheless, it was effective. Mærsk followed his father in all aspects of the company’s operations, from the smallest details to the big liners. He was able to attend all meetings, at home and abroad, just as he was introduced to significant business associates and valuable contacts. “When there were business partners at the office in Copenhagen, he asked me to come in and listen. I almost never took part in the conversations, but I listened and learned.” Underway, A.P. Møller was not afraid to ask his son for advice, which is a virtue, which Mærsk himself has tried to live by. When it came down to it, there was no doubt that A.P. Møller was the boss. From several sources, over time, a picture was painted that it could be hard for Mærsk to comply with his father, who in his final years could make impulsive decisions and start new initiatives, which he figured his son would probably follow up on and turn into commercial successes. Emma Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller is the one who has most clearly said that this period was difficult for Mærsk, but he himself downplays this aspect. “My father was the boss and the boss until his death. There was no doubt about it and I respected that. Of course, it was not easy in the last years, but I respected it and had no problems with it.”

One of the reasons that a conflict never really broke out between father and son, as happens in many other companies that must undergo a generation change, is that the bond between the two was so strong. Another major reason is probably that A.P. Møller had made it clear that his son was the successor and would take over management of the company. This signal was sent out early and was never questioned. “It was not said directly, but it was obvious that when I came home from America, I would end up as number one if I behaved myself properly and was clever enough.”

After the war a great deal of the contact between father and son across the Atlantic was via letter, and one of these, written by A.P. Møller dated December 2nd 1946, stands today as one of the most important documents in company history. “The letter was not written with a view to how I should run the company, when he had passed away, but he wanted to tell about how best to run the company,” stresses Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller. It is precisely in this letter, which refers to the development of the liner traffic that A.P. Møller uses the saying on constant care, “… my old saying ‘No loss should hit us which can be avoided with constant care’ this must be a watchword throughout the entire organisation.”

Black gold

The biggest single decision that father and son disagreed on was about oil exploration in the North Sea. In 1959, a German oil company showed interest in the Danish territory, which first Gulf and then Esso had abandoned after a large number of futile subsoil boreholes. A.P. Møller contacted the social democrat Prime Minister H.C. Hansen, and the shipowner received the message that if the concession was to go into Danish hands, then the shipping company must apply this themselves. A.P. Møller succeeded in getting Gulf Oil as a partner, which was vital because the Danes did not have any expertise in oil exploration. Mærsk was concerned. His father was old, had poor health and there were already tasks enough. “I did not recommend it. My father was at that time 83-84-years-old. The company was large and growing. It was I who ran it day-to-day and would be responsible and I feared having oil placed on top of it all. Remember, Gulf and Esso had tried and failed. We did not know anything about oil at all. We first went to Shell and asked if they would agree to come in with us. We asked Esso and BP. I myself was involved in the meetings, but the answer was no. Finally, we asked Gulf Oil and the chief first said no, but then he said, ‘Yes, I'll come back in with you.’ It was crucial.”

Mærsk’s fear that the volume of investment could become a millstone around the neck of the enterprise, combined with his concern about the company’s lack of knowhow in the oil industry, were brushed aside by A.P. Møller, and Mærsk complied when he realised that his father was acting on grounds of patriotism. “It was for national reasons that my father went in and it is clear that when he first decided to go ahead, all the troops turned that way - including me.” On the question of how clearly Mærsk warned his father, the answer is, “Very clearly! However, when the Germans wanted to apply, my father said, ‘We will apply!’ This settled the case. He was very nationalistic. His parents' family had experienced the occupation of Southern Jutland from 1864-1920. My father could not accept that oil exploration on Danish soil should be in German hands and I could not.” Today, Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller has no doubts about the wisdom of his father’s decision. “He was right - he very often hit the spot.”

The big upheaval

The decision to go into the oil business was a landmark. As a result, A.P. Møller had a new division, which was to create tremendous results for the company, eventually to the great dismay of politicians who felt that the company had obtained the concession on overly favourable terms. The requirements for renegotiation of contracts, which had already been renegotiated, to Mærsk were ‘unjust’.

The liner network was dramatically expanded, which was especially to Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller’s credit. Tankers became super tankers, bought and sold with optimal timing, Odense Steelship Yard was too small, moved to Munkebo, and the Lindø yard was built, and in the early 1970s, Mærsk made the gigantic investment in container operations over the world’s oceans. Just as the father, his son showed an eminent sense for business. He had the ability to pursue opportunities in world trade development. He could read the shifts in trade flows and identify new economic powerhouses, and equip the company accordingly.

Early on, the company was aware of the opportunities in the emerging Asian economies and Mærsk has since been heavily preoccupied with ensuring the company the strongest possible position in China. Today, some even fear that such investments are too high and the company is too vulnerable if there should be political turmoil or recession in the country, but Mærsk insists that investment levels are balanced. “We have especially placed large orders in China for new ships and we have invested in terminals, but relative to our size, our investments are balanced. China is a major factor in the world and will become an even bigger factor. How fast it will go, I cannot say. It will not move forward at the same speed. China can experience a period of bad times, while Europe will have better times. Nevertheless, China will certainly continue to grow. The same will happen in India unless something political takes place. The Indian economy is not growing as fast, but Indians have the advantage that English is their language of communication, while the Chinese have to learn English and our written language, plus their own. There are major requirements.”

However, one thing is the ability to create prosperity and growth. When Mærsk looks back, there is one particular act, for which he honours and admires his father. That is The A.P. Møller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foundation’s special significance and control of A.P. Møller - Mærsk. When Mærsk gathered his managers at Mosehøjvej in 2003, he laid emphasis on his father’s role in this process and he praised A.P. Møller’s wisdom, as his father gradually transferred most of his shareholdings to The A.P. Møller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foundation, which as a result came to control A.P. Møller - Mærsk. “This wise and timely decision has helped the steady development of our company over the years without the risk of takeover attempts, Danish, or international, and without the unrest and uncertainty that would follow. And will continue to do so,” stated Mærsk.

Maintaining the values

Should we point out one consideration that has weighed more heavily than anything else on the shipowner in recent years, it is how to best secure the company’s future. Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller’s considerations have both been about company structure for those who must lead the company and about the values that the shipowner would like to maintain in the future A.P. Møller - Mærsk.

He is quite aware that it is not a given thing to ensure the future of the values, which the company until now has operated on, “We cannot guarantee it. The only way that gives a chance that the fundamental values are preserved, is to ingrain them throughout the organisation, and management must continue to tell staff who present insufficient work to “go back and do your homework.”” For Mærsk the values can be concentrated into a few, but crucial points. The key is reputation and for the shipowner it is a requirement that all employees, led by the managers, cherish the reputation and constantly work to ensure that it is second-to-none. Integrity is also an indispensable requirement for Mærsk, “You should always be able to rely on our word,” as he puts it and no employees or managers must be smart in the negative sense of the word. In order to illustrate his point, he has repeatedly told how A.P. Møller once said to his son, “Mærsk, now you are trying to be smart. You should never try. You are not smart!”

Loyalty to the company, colleagues, management, the chairman and the board is also an indisputable requirement. “Many major decisions will be a compromise of differing views. Nevertheless, when the decision is taken, it is vital that all 100% are in favour of it and then stand by the responsibility of the decisions - even when they are wrong.” Constant care is obviously a virtue to be kept alive and viewed with Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller’s eyes, almost every major loss, nearly all accidents, and almost all shipwrecks are attributed to a lack of constant care. However, constant care is far from only avoiding mistakes. Constant care is also very important in not missing the opportunity of good investments and business. Entrepreneurship and good business acumen should always thrive side-by-side and new initiatives, business areas, and ideas must be heard at all levels.

Humility is also a keyword for Mærsk and he recalls what his father once said, “Where conceit goes in, reason goes out.” Employees and managers in the enterprise must always remember to keep things simple. In his speech to his management team, he expressed it thus, “Remember that KISS stands for ‘Keep it simple, stupid’ (…) There are many ways to do business. The simple, so-called old-fashioned are often the best. Benchmarking performance against what others have done and what we could have done. We must never fall into believing that the competitor or other party is incapable. The others are usually as good as we are. Never tend to act as though we are rich. Always remember that without customers there is no business. So we must all be sales people - always - nobody is too grand for that!”

Finally, it is important for Mærsk to take care of perhaps the most important asset - employees. Careful selection, lifelong training and fair treatment of all employees is for Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller the prerequisite so the company can survive against competitors that have access to equally good and talented people.

Away from the desk

When Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller thinks back on his deliberations about equipping the enterprise for the future, he does not hide the fact that it has been a challenging time, especially when he prepared the merger of The Steamship Company of 1912 and The Steamship Company Svendborg. “It took a lot of thought - a lot of advice. It is not something you do just like that” says Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller and clicks his fingers. “My father had created it and I have great veneration for my father. If it was changed, the original companies would not exist anymore and the names would disappear. However, the old organisational form was ultimately incompatible with the world of today. Others had trouble understanding it. It had become too special.” For a long time, Mærsk analysed how the company was to be organised. He talked with his closest advisers, who in this context could be counted on one hand, because for such decisions, there are actually not many people who can be consulted and ultimately, only Mærsk could decide the case. “I can act quickly, but with the big decisions, I can deliberate over them for a very long time. Therefore, I consult people and ask, ‘What would you do in that situation?’ However, there are not many you can ask. It is insider knowledge, but you cannot ask in the organisation.”

The operation of the merger succeeded beyond all expectations, which was a joy for Mærsk, but it was emotionally difficult to do away with the old corporate structure, and it was hard when in late 2003 he decided to resign as chairman. “It was hard - but I did it!” says Mærsk and stresses that he is not currently taking business-related decisions, but leaves it to the new generation, though it requires an act of will to refrain. “It is not easy. They sit and take a decision that you might think is wrong, you do not have the background information, which they have, or do you? Maybe you have a better judgement - or maybe not? It is hard to keep quiet – not to meddle, so to say.”

Mærsk is pleased to have close interaction with management about the steps taken by the new team with Michael Pram Rasmussen and Nils Smedegaard Andersen at the front. “We often speak and it is systematic. We meet for lunch. I go to Smedegaard and I go to the chairman or they come to me when there is a question to be discussed. But I no longer make the decisions.”

Ane and the family

Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller is also highly concerned about the family’s continuing role in the company. He stressed it firmly in his speech at Mosehøjvej, so it would not be misunderstood, “The founding family should not be forgotten. Historically, it has strengthened the enterprise from the beginning. It still does and will continue to do so.” When asked what significance it has for him to see several grandchildren climb up the hierarchy with the possibility of maybe achieving the highest posts, Mærsk replies, “I hope it will succeed - that there will be some of those who can grow into it, but they need to be talented.”

For Mærsk his daughter Ane plays a special role in relation to the company. He is close to his two other daughters, Kirsten and Leise, but in relation to the company, it was agreed that Ane should step in after Mærsk as chairman of the The A.P. Møller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foundation. To him Ane is a great and strong personality, and he uses adjectives such as clever, hard working, and right-minded when he talks about his daughter, whom he has consulted with all considerations in recent years. Just as was the case in the handover from A.P. Møller to Maersk, there is not a formalised cooperation between Mærsk and Ane. However, there is still a big difference from then and now, “My father did not give advice, he dictated! He dictated until he died, he did. I endlessly consult Ane. I have no business-related secrets from her. She is a very good sparring partner. It takes place when we see each other or talk on the telephone. She is here very often. She has an apartment in town when she is in Copenhagen, but she usually stays here. Not because I ask her to, but because she wants to. We do not go early to bed, but talk until late. She often has other views. Her assessment of people is often different from mine. I am old and old fashioned. She is a present-day, innovative person,” says the father of Ane, who turned 60 in the summer of 2008, when Mærsk turned 95.

The two do not need to talk about the values of the company. The mind-set behind the values is part of the daughter’s backbone, but in other areas, they may disagree and they constantly discuss problems, challenges, and solutions. “If we disagree,” says Mærsk and points to the group of sofas, which are located near the window in the villa overlooking the wonderful garden, “then we often sit here and I say bluntly, “I do not agree with you!” Then we leave it there and we take up another topic.” After such a discussion, Mærsk often thinks the matter over again, because he would like to think about the issues carefully before he takes a position and in the process, he may arrive at different conclusions. “I can be convinced of something in the evening, but when I get up in the morning and shave, I think: Maybe my conclusion was nevertheless incorrect. You should always remember to ask yourself, ‘Was it the right decision?’”

This quest for excellence and perfection continues to drive Mærsk. For the same reason, it is unthinkable for him to sit back into a comfortable chair, let thoughts wander back to the many successes and just enjoy the fruits of a long working life. “I can take pleasure that the company has gone well and take pleasure is exactly the correct term, because I am not proud. I am never proud, but I am glad that it went as it did and that it has succeeded - though of course everything could have been done better. Nevertheless, it has gone pretty well. I am glad that there are good successors, I have had good staff, there continues to be good staff, just as I am glad that we have prudent boards. Nevertheless, you cannot just stop. If the car stalls, it is hard to get it going again.”

Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller aboard the ocean cruiser Klem VII on the sound between Denmark and Sweden in August 2008.