Vincent Clerc Takes Over as CEO of Ocean and Logistics at Maersk

Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller – Maersk is reshuffling its executive management team following the resignation of one of its key members Mr. Soren Toft.

Namely, Maersk appointed Vincent Clerc as CEO of Ocean and Logistics and Henriette Hallberg Thygesen as CEO of Towage, Manufacturing & Others.

Clerc has worked for Maersk Line since 1997, holding various roles in North America and Copenhagen. In December 2015, Clerc was appointed Chief Commercial Officer in Maersk Line before being appointed as a member of the Executive Board as Chief Commercial Officer of Maersk in 2017, where he was in charge of the development of products and services using digital innovation.

On the other hand, Henriette Hallberg Thygesen has been with Maersk since 1994 where she has held various senior positions in Spain, China, USA and Copenhagen for Maersk Tankers, Maersk Oil, Maersk Logistics/Damco. Now promoted to assume responsibility of Towage, Manufacturing & Others, Thygesen will continue in her role as CEO of Svitzer, a position she was appointed to in 2016.  Maersk said that she will be responsible for driving profitable growth through optimization of market portfolio and improved customer satisfaction.

“A year ago, we integrated our customer-facing roles across the company. We are now ready to accelerate the execution of our strategy through increased commercial and operational integration,” says Søren Skou, CEO of A.P. Moller – Maersk.

“With the new leadership structure announced today (December 17), I am confident that we will increase the pace. We have a simple and agile foundation for profitable growth and the new Executive Board is united in the goal of integrating our value proposition and maximizing the value creation across the business.”

The new composition of the Executive Board of A.P. Moller – Maersk:

Søren Skou, CEO of A.P. Moller – Maersk
Carolina Dybeck Happe, CFO of A.P. Moller – Maersk
Henriette Hallberg Thygesen, Executive Vice President A.P. Moller – Maersk and CEO of Towage, Manufacturing & Others
Vincent Clerc, Executive Vice President A.P. Moller – Maersk and CEO of Ocean and Logistics
Morten Engelstoft, Executive Vice President A.P. Moller – Maersk and CEO for APM Terminals

The announcement is being made a month after Soren Toft resigned as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of A.P. Møller – Mærsk to join the company’s competitor Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) as Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Toft will report directly to Diego Aponte, Group President, and Gianluigi Aponte, founder and Group Chairman.

Toft comes to MSC after spending the past 25 years at Maersk, specifically as Maersk Line’s Chief Operating Officer since 2014.

Over the past years, Maersk has been on a major transformation path transforming from a diversified conglomerate into an integrated logistics solutions company. The switch saw Maersk separate its energy businesses, harvesting synergies between Terminals, Ocean and from the acquisition of Hamburg Sud.