Safmarine integrated into Maersk for improving customer experience

September 02, 2020: A.P. Moller - Maersk introduces strategic changes that will further improve customer experience and end-to-end service delivery. As part of this, the Safmarine brand will be integrated into Maersk to enhance customers’ access to the global integrated offering. In addition, the Damco brand’s air and less than container load (LCL) offering will be combined with Maersk’s logistics and services products to complement its end-to-end offering. Also, a more simplified and customer-centric global ocean and logistics organisation is being introduced.

Due to the changes, the Safmarine and Damco brands will no longer be marketed by the end of 2020.

“Our customers are at the heart of our vision. Their evolving supply chain needs are increasing the demand for multiple modes of transport and to meet these needs, we’re bringing our company’s expertise and capabilities even closer together. Taking these steps are key to accelerating our transformation,” said Vincent Clerc, CEO of ocean & logistics, A.P. Moller - Maersk.

Over time, the value propositions of Maersk and Safmarine have converged, as both brands have been focusing on building a customer-centric culture and as the digital interactions with customers have increased.

“With the integration of Safmarine, we can present Safmarine customers with the full ocean and supply chain offering and more scale. At the same time, I’m very excited to have Safmarine’s passion for customers closer to Maersk by uniting our teams,” stated Clerc.

Since focusing purely on freight forwarding in 2018, Damco has demonstrated significant value to customers in the air and ocean LCL space. During this time, it has become apparent through close customer engagements that the value proposition of Maersk can be greatly enhanced with the expansion of multiple modes of transport.

The integration of air and LCL into Maersk will help meet these needs and give businesses access to a simplified, connected and agile experience under the Maersk brand, as well as to its scale. Maersk uses its own assets to offer unique value propositions; hence it will not pursue the ocean FCL multi-carrier product (NVOCC) as a general offering.

“Businesses need Air and LCL products to connect their supply chains and with these offerings firmly placed in our global integrated portfolio, we aim to serve our businesses better and more efficiently across their supply chains,“  says Vincent Clerc and continues: “Our colleagues in Damco have delivered a remarkable effort under challenging market conditions, serving customers through focus, discipline and expertise which will now be a strong asset for our customers in Maersk.”

In addition, Maersk will simplify its organisational structure across ocean & logistics globally to further improve customer centricity and efficiency. As part of this, the back offices of Maersk and Hamburg Sud will come closer together into more customer-centric teams, while continuing to meet customers as two separate brands with a differentiated service model.