15 Mar 2022 15:44

Maersk expects to wind down container operations from Russia by end-April

MOSCOW. March 15 (Interfax) - A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S expects to wind down operations with containers from Russia by the end of April.

Chief Executive Soren Skou said on Tuesday that it was not easy to stop doing business in a country like Russia. The Danish logistics giant still has vessels calling at Russian ports to deliver containers booked before the military operation in Ukraine began and to pick up around 50,000 containers stranded in Russia, he said. It could take until the end of April to retrieve them all.

"We have about 50,000 of our containers in Russia today. Most of them are empty, they are our property," Skou said.

"We need them, and we are very reluctant to leave them in Russia. For this reason, we still have some port calls in Russia," he said.

Maersk suspended bookings to ship containers to and from Russia from March 1 due to the military operation in Ukraine. The decision does not apply to foodstuffs, medical and humanitarian supplies. Maersk said on March 4 that it was suspending acceptance of new bookings for shipping essential goods to and from the Russian ports of St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad and Novorossiysk.

APM Terminals, part of A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S and which owns 30.75% of Global Ports, said on Friday that it intended to begin the process of exiting from the share capital of Global Ports, Russia's biggest container terminal operator. It also said it would continue to be represented on the board of directors and fulfil its obligations towards the company until the stake has been divested.