IT may not be the festive message that staff wanted to hear but there is a brutal honesty in Maersk chief Nils Andersen’s instruction to “take nothing for granted”.
His frank acknowledgement that even simple bank loans are no longer assured is a worrying sign of the times. That a company the size of Maersk has been forced to start tapping its own cash reserves for new projects must be a concern internally. The implications for the rest of the industry are frightening.
After months of gloomy forecasts and worrying signs, we are now witnessing the hard and fast conclusions of our fears. Economic growth is shrinking and the consequences of that fact is being realised on decks and docks across the industry.
The global financial tsunami and the resulting slump in world trade has taken its toll on Hong Kong and Singapore after both ports reported a drop in container volumes last month. Anyone hoping that this is going to be a short-lived blip need only take a look at the International Monetary Fund’s latest missive which warns that growth in China could be cut in half from this year to next.
It seems it is now time to batten down the hatches. Andersen’s plea to his staff to “fully understand that a dollar saved is a dollar earned”, was more than a trite management platitude. This is the reality that now faces companies, large and small. It is precisely this sort of back to basics approach that is ultimately going to determine the shape and condition of many companies coming out the other side of this economic winter.
