World’s largest shipping company shafts US Military

by Nigel Lewis on 2012-01-07 02:51:02

I was absolutely gob smacked to learn about the recent settlement fees imposed on the Worlds Largest Shipping Company Maersk of 31.9 million.

In brief,  between 2006 and 2011 Maersk overcharged the US Defense Department for sending cargo to bases in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan, they also charged for services that were not provided or only partially provided which included GPS container tracking services and security services.

It is alleged that Maersk employees knowingly shafted the US Defense force and if it wasn’t for someone with a conscience they would be continuing to do so.  According to reports someone within Maersk blew the whistle which resulted in an investigation by Northern District of California, the Justice Department and three Defense Department agencies.

On the Maersk website they have a page on Company Values, here is what is says:

”Our values are a set of fundamental shared beliefs. They are closely linked to our founder, Mr Arnold Peter Møller, and his son, Mr Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, and they form our guiding principles for behaviour, decisions and interaction.

Guiding everything we do, our values apply to all our employees – whether in Beijing, Kazakhstan, Honduras or elsewhere – and they play a critical role in how we work and in our continued success.

Our values are:

Constant Care
Take care of today, actively prepare for tomorrow

Humbleness
Listen, learn, share, and give space to others

Uprightness
Our word is our bond

Our Employees
The right environment for the right people

Our Name
The sum of our values: passionately striving higher

___________________________________________

My suggestion is for Maersk to revisit these set of values so they are more inline with their recent behavour.

Nigel Lewis
CEO – Global Logistics Media