makeover at Maersk

After bulking up through a string of acquisitions, the world's largest ocean carrier is now looking to slim down.

Maersk Line, the container shipping division of Denmark's A.P. Møller-Maersk Group, will embark on a new business strategy that CEO Eivind Kolding says will return the company to long-term profitability. The goals include filling ships with profitable cargo; providing highly reliable services; providing faster, more responsive service; and reducing complexity and cost.

To reach those goals, Kolding will put the carrier on a diet of sorts, cutting up to 3,000 positions worldwide, mostly in mid-level management. He and his new executive team will trim Maersk's regional organizations from 14 to 11 and push more decision-making out to individual countries—"closer to the customers," he said in announcing the reorganization. The shipping line will also shed some weight when it spins off Maersk Logistics, Damco, and its trucking and rail services into separate organizations.