Shipping Bosses Meet Top Brass In Davos

SWITZERLAND – For more than forty years the World Economic Forum has met annually to try and set the agenda for global trade, and attendance is strictly invitation only. This week representatives from the world’s largest container shipping line, Maersk, have their chance to shape the future in fields ranging from restrictive import practices to carbon emissions.

Maersk group CEO Nils S. Andersen and Maersk Line CEO Eivind Kolding are in Davos where they can express the views of the freight community to such luminaries as French president Nicolas Sarkozy, President of Indonesia Susilo Bambang, and Japan’s Prime Minister, Naoto Kan.

Nils S. Andersen will also participate in round table discussions with, among others, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon whilst Eivind Kolding is participating in a number of business groups and sessions, e.g. ‘The Role of Business in Development’ and ‘Sustainability as a Competitive Advantage’. He will also meet with, among others, the President of South Africa, Jacob G. Zuma.

The Maersk representatives will both listen and contribute to the picture of the current global economy whilst the rapid growth of the emerging markets and the consequences for the mature markets are set to be the focus of many discussions. The meetings are particularly important for the Danish group as, following the uncertainties in both box and bulk shipping in recent times they intend to focus in 2011 on expanding their presence in emerging markets.