‘Integration of P&O was biggest achievement’

Outgoing Maersk SA MD heads for the UK RAY SMUTS FLEMMING Dalgaard, for the past three years MD of Maersk South Africa, is leaving on promotion for the United Kingdom to become MD of Maersk Line, UK & Eireland. The quiet-spoken 41-year-old Dane succeeds Jens Holger Nielsen who is leaving the AP Moller-Maersk group to pursue other interests. The South African position will be filled by fellow Dane, Per Heisselberg, whose last posting was MD for Maersk in Bangladesh (Dhaka). In his London-based job Dalgaard’s priorities will be to ensure Maersk has the right customers on board by offering the best service at the right price, ensuring the correct execution, making as few errors as possible and reducing costs by working smarter, he told FTW. His sojourn in South Africa can really be summed up in two segments. The first was preoccupied with intense customer focus, particularly those in the reefer sector, while also forging closer links with the freight forwarding sector. His final year was largely devoted to what he regards as his single biggest achievement, the integration of P&O with Maersk Line in southern Africa. World-wide combined today the company fields a containership fleet of 500 vessels. “That was a big job and we are already seeing the benefits by way of an expanded network and better, more frequent opportunities for our customers to different global destinations.” He also interacted regularly with both Sapo, NPA and Spoornet on how to do things better and was active on the EXCO of the Container Liner Operators’ Forum. Dalgaard recalls with a touch of rancour that he took over the South African posting two days before the stranding of the Maersk-chartered vessel, Sealand Express, which became a household name when she grounded near Cape Town, to remain stuck on a sandbank for a month. While in South Africa he was also chairman of Maersk Logistics South Africa and in May last year, took over responsibility as chairman of the Maersk boards in Namibia, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Maersk South Africa represents the fledgling Maersk Line which officially came into operation in mid-February. A final comment about South Africa? “I like the country and the people very much but the country has, for historical reasons, had too many monopolies and could benefit greatly from competition in the ports, rail and other links in the infrastructure chain.”