DANISH TREAT
Charlotte won the headquarters relocation of shipping giant Maersk in November, with the largest company based in Denmark by revenue selecting the Queen City over Atlanta for its main North American office.
Maersk pledged to add 520 jobs and invest $16 million as it accepted a $9.8 million incentive package over 12 years from the state. It also lined up about $530,000 in city and county subsidies. Over time, the Copenhagen-based company plans to employ 1,300 people in Charlotte, where it has had a major office since buying the former Royal Sun Alliance headquarters building in 2006.
The publicly traded company remains controlled by descendants of the founding Mɵller family. It had net income of $6.1 billion and revenue of $55 billion in 2024, well below its record $29 billion profit in 2022, when consumer demand for goods surged after the global pandemic and a shortage of containers sent freight rates soaring. Shares traded on the Nasdaq Copenhagen exchange have gained 6% over the past five years through mid-December.
Charles van der Steene was named president for North America in February 2024 and will be based in Charlotte. He joined Maersk in 2011 and has had posts in Denmark, the Netherlands, Dubai and New Jersey.
Here’s what the company said about its Charlotte move.
Are these new jobs coming from organic growth or positions now based in New Jersey?
The jobs will come with the relocation of roles from a variety of locations, primarily across the U.S.
What sparked the timing of this move?
Maersk in North America has been on a journey of growth and transformation into an end-to-end logistics provider. We’ve built up a network of planes, warehouses, ships and trucks to connect our customers with the world. Looking to the future, we feel that consolidating our footprint with the re-establishment of a true headquarters for the majority of our office-based colleagues is a natural next step. It will serve as
the physical beating heart of our organization, where employees
can experience our culture and work together to best serve
our customers.
Has Maersk had a U.S. headquarters?
Our former office in Madison, New Jersey, functioned as a headquarters for many years, but with continued acquisitions, growth and an expanded footprint in logistics, we have leadership and operations in many locations across the U.S. Florham Park in New Jersey continues to be a strategic location.
How will this office benefit Maersk?
Our regional leadership team believes this decision is a natural next step for our business in North America, which has seen significant growth and transformation in recent years as we’ve built ourselves into an integrated logistics provider. With the majority of our office-based roles in one place, we believe we’ll be even better positioned to create a culture where our colleagues can thrive, do their best work and feel truly happy.
The Charlotte space opened in 2008 had space for 1,200 workers. Is that still true?
The facility will not undergo an expansion but will undergo renovations, through the lens of modern workspace design principles, to accommodate the additional colleagues. ■
David Mildenberg is editor of Business North Carolina. Reach him at dmildenberg@businessnc.com.
