In his first interview since taking up the post Jensen told Seatrade Global: “The great thing about Southeast Asia, and we’ve got Australia and New Zealand as well, is the diversity, you’ve got everything from a mature market like Australia and New Zealand and then you’ve got huge growth economies like Vietnam and Indonesia, and then you’ve virgin ground more or less in Myanmar.
“So the beauty here is all the different markets and things to develop.”
Jensen, a 33-year Maersk Line veteran, had been earmarked to take up the role of running the P3 network centre, before the alliance was nixed by the Chinese authorities, and is clearly looking forward to the challenges of being back in the front line of the business.
In terms of the region a good portion of the business is based around the neighbouring ports of Singapore and Tanjung Pelepas. “We run two hubs here in Singapore and Pelepas and that offers a lot of opportunities,” he said.
These opportunities should increase with the 2M vessel sharing agreement that starts next year. “With the VSA the offerings and the frequency from Singapore and Pelepas will increase so we can almost run conveyor belts from Laem Chabang and Ho Chi Minh City down to here.”
While the feedering to hubs is a major part of the network there are also direct calls on certain services. For example there are direct calls on a horn of Africa service at Laem Chabang and on the transpacific trade at Ho Chi Minh City. “It’s a combination, obviously the large ships of 18,000 teu won’t go to Laem Chabang or Jakarta, at least not at this point in time.”
One new emerging market in the region is Myanmar and Maersk Line already has its own agency in the country. While intra-Asia trade has dominated in the past this is now shifting with tremendous growth to Europe and the US.
“We do see opportunities there, but as in every country that takes off the initial steps are difficult from a sourcing and operational point of view. That’s why we have to be in there early with our own people on the ground.”
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