AP MOLLER MAERSK is set to re-flag vessels from the British to the Danish International Registry as part of a wide-ranging simplification of its ownership and registration structure.

A total of 55 vessels will be included in the group-wide simplification strategy, which will see 15 containerships and tankers leave the UK and 17 supply vessels exit the Isle of Man registry.

While the shake-up will reduce Maersk’s overall number of vessels flagged in the UK, the changes will also see 20 containerships moving into UK ownership.

According to Maersk Company shipping division managing director Terry Cornick, the changes are intended to simplify the company’s increasingly complex administrative structure. He stressed that the shift in ownership would in no way alter the number of volunteers needed for redundancy above the 113 already being sought from UK-flagged vessels.

“It is still business as usual for our fleet and ships’ personnel as these changes will not affect the employment of UK seafarers,” he told Lloyd’s List.

The transfer of vessels represents just one part of a much larger attempt by the AP Moller-Maersk group to simplify its global structure, in a bid to claw back any possible cost savings. While the company has not calculated the specific savings per vessel it will earn through the flag transfers, officials are confident that the administrative savings will be significant.

“In a company like AP Moller-Maersk, which has a global presence and a very large number of business units across 125 countries, I can not emphasise how important it is to have this simplification of structure wherever possible,” Maersk Line chief operating officer Morten Engelstoft said. “This is very much as matter of having a simplified structure and from that we can derive cost savings.”

The restructure is the second significant move by Maersk this year to flag out of the UK. In February the Maersk Co reflagged eight vessels to the US and Brazil registers.

In both instances Maerk has insisted that the reflagging should not be interpreted as a rebuke or warning signal to the UK.

At the end of September 2009 there were 1,573 merchant vessels over 100 gt on the UK Ship Register — an increase of 29 vessels from the September 2008.

Source: Lloyds List, October 2009