Episode 3:（Final）

Introduction
China, Cranes, and Core Values
– My Final Chapter with MAERSK (2008–2025)


In this final episode, I share my experience in China,
focusing on MAERSK’s global port business,
and how the values of the company have shaped both my professional and personal life.

Full Text

3rd period, 2008-2025
As said, I have spent the last almost 18 years in China,
establishing Maersk Procurement, China and during the past 6 years especially focused on the production of container cranes for MAERSK’s 70 ports spread over the world.

This tenure has given me the opportunity to maintain a close relationship with my shipbuilding friends in Japan, Korea and build new friendships with the Chinese Maritime Industry.

Some of the readers of this article might be thinking:
“how can this guy stay with one company only his entire career and for more than 54 years”.

Firstly, I hope that I have given you an impression of the excitement and variation of my career but most importantly, I have cherished to work under the guidance of the MAERSK values during all the years and wherever I have been working the World, namely:

Constant care
Humbleness 
Uprightness 
Our Employees 
Our Name 

These values have guided my professional–as well as my private–life through the entire 54 years and hereby passed on as inspiration.

Thank You!


Episode 2: 

Introduction
The Global Shipbuilding Family
and the Lindoe Years (1987–2005)

This second episode covers my transition to the Odense Shipyard,
our international cooperation with Japan, Korea, and the US,
and how we fought to sustain European shipbuilding in a global era.

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2nd Period 1987 - 2005. In 1987
I was asked by Mr. Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller to transfer from Copenhagen office to the MAERSK owned shipyard on the Island of Funen in Denmark called Odense Steel Shipyard or the Lindoe Yard as their Head of Procurement and Logistics.

The Shipyard was founded in 1916 by Mr. A.P. Moller, the father of Mr. Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller
and the yard was up to its closure in 2012 building and delivering a major part of the MAERSK fleet of vessels.

This period was maybe the most exciting and rewarding time of my career.
At the same time it was a period of expansions and growth but also a period of struggling for the survival of the European shipbuilding in the severe competition with Shipyards in the Far East.

In Odense we had initiated the following steps in our survival fight:
Expanding production capacity to nearby low-cost countries (The Baltics) 
Modernize production facilities in Denmark (Robotization, CAD etc.) 
Internationalize our supply market of shipbuilding components.

As Head of Procurement, I was heavily involved in all three initiatives.
I will here mainly concentrate on the 2nd and 3rd initiatives.

To help us boosting these two initiatives we were cooperating closely with our friends in the Worldwide Shipbuilding Industry.

Initially the cooperation was started together with Hitachi Zosen with adaption of their CAD (computer aided design) tool in Odense followed by introduction of Hitachi robots in our production.

This close cooperation with HZ was later expanded to also comprise cooperation with Samsung Heavy Industry in Korea and Newport News Shipyard in Virginia, USA.

And the topic of cooperation of procurement and internationalization of supply market of shipbuilding components was included in the cooperation.

We called ourselves The Global Shipbuilding Family.
Being a member of the family gave me a fantastic insight in the similarities and differences between the four members of the family.

The oddest member was the US member - Newport News.
Their cost base was considerably different from other members,
them being spoiled by traditionally building navy vessels for the US navy and at that time trying to enter the commercial shipbuilding market.

Samsung Heavy Industry and other Korean shipbuilding industry was expanding rapidly during these years and became the most competitive member of the family, they wisely combined adaptation of modern shipbuilding technology with a lower cost base and high productivity maintaining a decent quality and thereby eventually outcompeted European Shipbuilding Industry and to some extent also Japanese shipbuilding Industry.

Hitachi Zosen remained to be Odense’s closest friend, seemed like we had most in common, shipbuilding designs and production quality were second to none for both entities, but unfortunately not sufficient to support continuation of shipbuilding in Odense, Denmark.

Japanese shipbuilding has after all been able to survive the competition from Korea and later from China and been able to keep a niche market.

The shipbuilding in Europe has mostly disappeared completely, nowadays being regretted by the politicians because of the lack of facilities capable of building Navy Ships for the purpose of the highly needed armament presently taking place in Europe.

Although the production of vessels was closed in 2012 in Odense – 13 years ago, there are still many Odense built vessel in the existing MAERSK fleet, and it is encouraging to learn that vessels’ crew still renamed the Odense ships of the best quality ever.

That leaves the question if the “TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP” (TOC) calculations were done properly before making the decision of abandoning shipbuilding in Denmark.

to be continued.


Episode 1: From Copenhagen

Introduction
– The Early Years with MAERSK (1971–1987)

 
In this first episode, I reflect on the early years of my maritime journey.

It all began in Copenhagen with MAERSK, where I worked in purchasing and logistics—
and where I first met Kobayashi-san. 
 
Dear Readers and Fellow Maritime Enthusiasts, I was both pleased and honored when my old friend Masanori Kobayashi-san asked me to write an article as a contribution to the “Muga-Muchu Project” and thereby share a little about my maritime experiences gained through a long-lasting career with MAERSK.

I am Niels Roed, a Danish national, and I began my career with MAERSK in 1971.
I have since worked in maritime logistics for over five decades, and for the past 18 years, I have lived and worked in Shanghai.

In recent years, I have especially worked with MAERSK’s port business and the manufacturing of port container cranes, which mainly takes place in Shanghai.
 
My career with MAERSK can roughly be divided into 3 major periods each lasting for approx. 18 years.
 
1st. Period 1971-1987, Staying in MAERSK headquarters in Copenhagen involved with purchasing and supply chain of spares, stores, provisions, containers, offshore equipment etc. for a very diversified fleet of liner vessels, tankers, bulk carriers, offshore supply vessels, drilling platforms.
 
During these years, MAERSK was transforming from a traditional liner vessel operator to a container vessel operator and the purchase of containers and container lashing became important categories. 
 
It was during that time I met with Kobayashi-san the first time around the topic of design and supply chain of container lashing.
 
During these years, I advanced to become the 2nd in command of MAERSK’s purchasing dept.
 
The first period began in 1971, when I joined MAERSK in Copenhagen...

to be continued.