Maersk Line has announced a major company transformation which will shed at least 4,000 employees by the end of 2017.
While the organisation currently has 23,000 land-based staff, the combination of corporate restructuring and an on-going push towards greater automation and digitalisation will see the company reduce its workforce by 4,000.
“We are on a journey to transform Maersk Line. We will make the organisation leaner and simpler,” Søren Skou, CEO of Maersk Line said in a statement.
“We are fewer people today than a year ago. We will be fewer next year and the following year. These decisions are not taken lightly, but they are necessary steps to transform our industry.”
The company plans on minimising redundancies by managing natural attrition within its workforce.
When contacted by
HRD, Maersk Line declined to comment in more detail about how individual offices such as Singapore would be affected by this reduction in staff numbers.
The decision comes after a major profit downturn in the global shipping industry – the worst since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). The GFC was in fact the last time Maersk Line cut staff numbers, shedding about 5,000 people from its operations.
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