Explore our history

Foundation — 1904-1912

A.P. Moller - Maersk was established on 16 April 1904, in the midst of the second industrial revolution, in a little town called Svendborg on the Danish island of Funen.

A.P. Møller, the driver of the Steamship Company Svendborg, had started out in tramp shipping, where vessels operate on the spot market without fixed schedules or port calls. Keen to expand the fleet beyond its modest three vessels, A.P. Møller was met with resistance from some of the company’s board members, so he struck out on his own.

Founding the Steamship Company of 1912, he secured himself operational independence and paved the way for the rapid expansion of the company over the coming years.

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Foundation office building — A.P. Møller's childhood home, Villa Anna, in Svendborg

Although A.P. Moller - Maersk was officially founded in 1904, the history of the company goes back even further. The story begins with Peter Mærsk Møller – A.P. Møller’s father – who came from a long line of seafarers.

Peter Mærsk Møller captained several schooners and barques owned by his father-in-law. One was the barque VALKYRIEN which he took command of in 1876. In December 1883, on a journey from Newport, USA to Glasgow, VALKYRIEN wrecked in rough weather off the Scottish coast. He returned home to find that his father-in-law had passed and the family business was to be closed, leaving him with no means of providing for his family. It was then that he made the decision to study engineering at Bogø Navigation School, with the aim of becoming a steamship master. He completed his examinations at the age of 50, and in 1886 he bought his first steamship – LAURA – and set up the Steamship Company Laura at the family home in Svendborg.

At a time when steam was not yet widely used in Danish merchant fleets, Peter Mærsk Møller set about educating his sons to be part of this new venture. One became a navigator, two became engineers, and the fourth – A.P. Møller – trained in shipping. It would be this father-son duo who would go on to found the Steamship Company Svendborg in 1904, which would ultimately become today’s A.P. Moller - Maersk.

Consolidation — 1913-1940

The golden circumstances of trade and shipping which emerged during the First World War helped to establish A.P. Moller - Maersk as a leading shipping company in Denmark. Although A.P. Møller himself felt uneasy about the unnatural profits and speculation – a sentiment he expressed in a letter he wrote to his father at the time – Maersk’s shipping activities benefited greatly.

In these lucrative conditions, the business quickly expanded to include brokerage (1913), shipbuilding (1918), liner shipping and tanker trade (1928), and a sugar plantation (1930), as well as investments in a range of other industrial activities.

Maersk ship history — The vessel NIEL MÆRSK being loaded with brown sugar

In 1918, A.P. Møller established the Odense Steel Shipyard, which for almost a century designed and built many innovative vessels for the industry. From the mid 1990s and onwards the shipyard built some of the biggest container ships in the world for A.P. Moller – Maersk.

The decision to cease shipbuilding was made in 2009, and after the last ships were delivered in 2012, the area was transformed into the Lindø Industrial Park.

It is an old idea of mine, one day to set up a yard, build ships using our companies’ shipping experience … I think I can manage to get it going myself and, being realistic, I do not think it would be such a misfortune if most of what has been earned during the war was lost on such a venture, as long as some good comes of it.

A.P. Møller in a letter to his father, 1917

The Second World War — 1940-1945

When German forces occupied Denmark on 9 April 1940, the Maersk fleet was made up of 46 ships, 36 of which were outside of Danish waters and ultimately requisitioned by allied forces. Those that remained in Danish waters were primarily used to carry German coal and coke to Denmark. A total of 25 Maersk ships were wrecked during the war, and 150 seafarers lost their lives.

At the end of the war, the fleet was reduced to just 21 ships, only seven of which were under Danish control. But due to fast rebuilding and the acquisition of larger vessels, the Maersk fleet was back to pre-war tonnage levels within just three years.

Maersk ship during second world war — GRETE MÆRSK transported troops in WWII under the US flag

A.P. Møller was worried that the German authorities might try to seize control over the entire Maersk fleet. The night before the occupation, he and his son, Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, telegraphed all Maersk ships outside of Danish waters.

They instructed their ships outside Danish territories, in the event of the German occupation of Denmark, to head for neutral ports and stop following orders or directions from headquarters.

Due to the urgency of the situation, control over the foreign fleet was temporarily transferred to A.P. Møller’s cousin, who lived in New York. Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller travelled out to the US to ensure that relations in the region were upheld throughout the war, and was instrumental in the post-war efforts to rebuild the Maersk fleet.

Expansion — 1945-1975

Today, Maersk connects every part of the world. But in 1928 there was just one Maersk Line route covering three countries: the USA, Japan, and The Philippines. New routes into South East Asia followed, first to China, then Thailand, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, India and the Persian Gulf.

From the 1950s to the 1970s, A.P. Møller was primarily transporting crude oil in Maersk Tankers, covering the smaller markets of world trade. Maersk Line was still a relatively small player on the global stage, but all of this was about to change, with the introduction of the standardised container.

Maersk ship at port — CLIFFORD MÆRSK, cargo liner carrying containers as special cargo, 1969

What we want to achieve is that people know us, like us, will explore their problems with us and will come to us, when anything transportation-wise arises.

Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, circa. 1958

Containerisation — 1975-1986

Although the first container vessel steamed out of Newark Harbour in 1956, large-scale containerisation on a global scale came much later. The containerisation of the Maersk fleet began with the Panama Line, and the first fully containerised service was launched on 5 September 1975, when ADRIAN MAERSK departed Port Elizabeth on the US East Coast loaded with 385 containers.

At the time, nobody could have predicted the scale to which the shipping industry would be revolutionised by containerisation. Container shipping was soon seeing an annual growth rate of around 20%, and by 1985, most conventional lines had either already been containerised or were about to be.

Maersk ship sailing — ADRIAN MÆRSK, 1975, Oakland. Launching Maersk's first containerised service.

While waiting for his truck to be unloaded one day, Malcolm McLean, entrepreneur and owner of Sea-Land, had an idea that would ultimately disrupt global shipping on an unprecedented scale. Would it be possible to rationalise the cargo workflow by loading truck trailers directly onto vessels?

McLean and his employees went on to develop the shipping container, the chassis for road transportation, and the specially fitted vessels that made containerisation possible. On 26th April 1956, a converted tanker vessel called IDEAL X departed from Newark, bound for Houston, with a cargo of 58 containers.

Since then, containerisation has completely transformed global trade, with modern Maersk ships capable of transporting over 18,000 containers – more than 300 times the capacity of that first container vessel all those years ago.

Becoming Global — 1986-2016

Ever since the maiden voyage of the first containerised ship in 1956, shipping and logistics has been one of the main facilitators of the globalisation of trade. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, new opportunities arose in new markets, and Maersk expanded its reach from 40 countries in 1990 to more than 100 countries just ten years later.

Thanks to the container and the barcode – the hidden enablers of world trade – a manufacturer in any part of the world can sell its goods in all markets.

Maersk railway cargo — Double-stacked Maersk train in the Mojave Dessert, California

Integration — 2016- Present

By 2015, A.P. Moller - Maersk was a wide-ranging conglomerate with activities in shipping, terminals, logistics, oil and gas, and other offshore activities spanning more than 130 countries. But this was starting to hold the company back from continued, sustainable growth. Following a strategic review in 2016, it was announced that A.P. Moller - Maersk would reorganise into two separate divisions: Transport & Logistics and Energy, with the purpose of becoming a focused integrated transport & logistics company.

Becoming the Global Integrator of Container Logistics required a huge digital transformation, moving away from a previously very analogue business, and setting ambitious decarbonisation targets.

Now, the Global Integrator strategy continues to focus on building three world-class divisions – Logistics & Services, Ocean, and Terminals – all with strong synergies between them. This allows us to deliver end-to-end supply chain solutions for our customers all over the world.

Maersk EV van — Maersk electric tuk-tuks and mini delivery trucks, India

There’s more to discover…

Our history and heritage are where it all began, but there’s much more to Maersk. Explore the links below to learn more about our core values, our efforts in sustainability, and diversity and inclusion across the organisation.