Mearsk Mc-Kinney

Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller

 I read in a shipping magazine that the owner of the largest shipping company Mearsk had died at the age of 98 years old! He was the largest ship owner since Agamemnon . " Greater than Henry the Navigator, greater than the founders of the world liner trades in the 19th century. Surpassing in tanker ownership and management the Greeks, Onassis and Niarchos, outlasting and outperforming even that outstanding entrepreneur of the Far East, YK Pao.

 This morning the M/V Anna Mearsk was docked at TSI Terminals. A chance for me to talk to the captain and other Danish officers and ask them about the  former owner and president of the company.

They all spoke highly and respectfully of this remarkable man. They told me that even after resigning as chairman in 2003, Mr. Mc-Kinney Moeller continued to come to the office each day, packing his lunch at home and climbing six flights of stairs to his office!  The day before he died he was still in his office - at 98 years of age! What an energy!

He was an immensely rich and powerful Danish businessman who transformed his family's shipping company into the world's largest that handles 15 percent of the world's manufactured goods shipped by sea, according to industry estimates. Since 1996, Mearsk is the largest container company in the world. The Emma Mearsk is the largest container ship in the world to date. Seven sister ships have since been built, and on February 2011, Mearsk ordered 10 even larger container ships each with a capacity of 18000 containers. The first is to be delivered in 2014. There are options for  10-20 more. And the man who owned it, for many years, packed his lunch daily and climbed six stairs to his office - Amazing!


There is an interesting story about his grandfather and founder of the company who was a devout Christian. He attached a blue banner with a white seven pointed star on both sides of the black chimney on the steam ship Laura when his wife recovered from illness. In a letter to his wife, he explained in October 1886, " The little star on the chimney is a memory of the night when I prayed for you and asked for a sign; If a star would appear  in the gray and cloudy sky, it would mean that the Lord answers prayers". The same star later became the logo for the Mearsk Group.

Going back to the Anna Mearsk where I had lunch with the Danish captain and some other officers, I was confronted again by the daily issues and tragedies of life. One of the rules that the Mearsk Company upholds is the strict observance of no alcohol on board. The consumption of  alcohol is not  allowed, not even at birthday parties, Christmas dinners etc.  - not on any  occasion. Yesterday, it was discovered, that an Indian officer had been drinking. Today he is  at the airport and on his way to India. Fired on the spot!