Damco ‘Going West’ on a Big Scale
Interview with Steffen Schiottz-Christensen, CEO, Damco North Asia

Back to the contents

On 24 March 2010, Damco, the logistics arm of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group of companies, announced the opening of a new facility in Chengdu, the capital of the Sichuan province in China. With 1,000 employees, this new state-of-the-art customer service centre will be Damco’s largest office up to date.

Damco will open the new facility together with Maersk Global Service Centres, a company providing back office functions for A.P. Moller–Maersk-owned companies. Between them, the two companies will initially employ about 1,400 office staff in Chengdu.

Steffen Schiottz-Christensen, Damco’s North Asia CEO, says, “The move to Chengdu will accomplish two objectives for us. First, by centralising customer service in Chengdu and thereby having only one customer team for each client, we will be able to deliver a better and more consistent service to our customers. Second, the pressure on logistics companies to continuously become more cost-effective has never been greater. The companies best able to improve their service levels without further increasing their cost base will be the winners in our industry. For Damco, this is achieved by relocating our customer service functions and the majority of our finance and accounting jobs to Chengdu. The upsides of this move speak for themselves, and our customers deserve that.”

Generally, customers have responded positively to the news of the move. Steffen Schiottz-Christensen says, “We have been in close contact with our clients throughout the process and have explained the drivers behind the decision. Most agree with the rationale behind the move, and we will make an all-out effort to ensure that the transfer to Chengdu is completely seamless for our customers and prove that this was the right decision.”

Speaking of the cooperation with authorities and other stakeholders during the process of establishing the facility, Steffen Schiottz-Christensen comments, “Our cooperation with the Chengdu Municipal Government and our partners in Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone and the Tianfu Software Park has been first class throughout. Indeed, the high focus of the municipal government on finding a good solution for all parties, as well as the professionalism and dedication of the Development Zone and Software Park, has been one of the determining factors for us in choosing Chengdu as the site for this facility.” Steffen adds, “We are also very pleased with the quality of the offices we have found and are impressed by the high competency level of our locally hired employees. We have every reason to be confident that this new facility will allow us to offer our clients enhanced service levels and improve our position relative to our competitors in China.”

Ribbon cutting ceremony at the new facility. From left to right: Sichuan Vice Governor, Huang Xiaoxiang; Chengdu Party Secretary, Li Chuncheng; A.P. Moller–Maersk Group CEO, Nils S. Andersen; Danish Ambassador to China, Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen.