Maersk starts winding down business in Russia

MOSCOW. March 22 (Interfax) - A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, which earlier announced it would stop working in Russia, notified its Russian clients on Monday that it has begun winding down its business activities in the country.

Maersk has already begun to gradually wind down its activities and at this stage it is not clear when it will be able to return to doing business in Russia, the Danish shipping company said.

From the very beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, Maersk's priority has been to ensure the safety and wellbeing of its employees, and this priority remains in connection with this decision, the company said. In the course of the gradual wind-down of Maersk's business in Russia in the next six months the company said it will do everything in its power to support its Russian employees and their family members.

For cargo that is already en route, the company said it will do its utmost to fulfill its obligations and deliver the cargo to the point of destination. However, as of now Maersk is no longer accepting new bookings for any of its services, including oceanic, transcontinental railway and air, to and from Russia, the company said.

The company recalled that it plans to ship all containers previously brought into Russia out of the country by the end of April. Maersk said it has about 50,000 of its own containers in Russia, most of which are empty.

Maersk is the maritime division of Denmark's A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, a global leader in container shipping and port management. The group owns more than 70 container terminals all over the world, and it has a fleet of 786 ships.

In Russia, Maersk has offices in St. Petersburg, Novorossiysk, Kaliningrad and Vladivostok.