I never thought I'd see the day when APL would leave Oakland, California. The company has been a bay area maritime fixture for decades. However, costs being what they are, the company has completed its headquarters relocation to the Phoenix area. Approximately 300 people will occupy the headquarters building located on North Scottsdale Road. Approximately half the staff transferred from Oakland.
To APL employees: Just remember..."its a dry heat". One other thing... the Phoenix police use traffic cameras on North Scottsdale Road. I know. The last time I was in Phoenix I got a ticket for $164.00 in the mail courtesy of the the local shutterbugs.
Maersk gets ready to jack up the Trans Atlantic trade
Maersk will replace its 4000 TEU vessels in the Med trade with 2900 TEU vessels as part of its 2010 trade strategy. The company thinks the Atlantic trade has hit economic bottom and feels that restriction of capacity will force higher demand for the remaining slots.
Eric
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You sound like a person who knows the story from the inside. I am sorry to say that if you took most liner people (or almost any mode) out and bought the beer, you'd hear some hair raising stories. I know I could tell a few!
Survival is a brutal business.
Posted by: Eric | October 15, 2009 at 06:51 PM
Let's be clear about motives here. When APL was bought 10 or so years ago by NOL, an arm of the Singapore government (via Temasek Holdings), the Oakland office turned from world HQ to the US HQ. Yet most of the business was still conducted thru Oakland and most of the company innovation came from the bright minds there.
This irritated Singapore to no end, which was constantly overshadowed by the achievements and success of their Oakland counterparts. The OAK offices were nicer, the staff better paid and more productive, and the OAK execs remained arrogant, rightly so as they were largely responsible for the success of the company.
The current economic situation gave NOL the chance to finally rid the cultural hold Oakland had in the organization and shift the HQ to a neutral city like Scottsdale. It is also closing offices throughout NAM and centralizing some functions in AZ.
And no it is not cheaper, and least in the short term. APL has to sublease its OAK office space for a song as it is locked into a 10 year lease. So it is subsidizing tenants back in Oakland.
Many employees who were forced to move are very resentful and have only temporarily moved here – keeping their families back in Oakland, Chicago, Jacksonville, etc. They will wait for better economic times and then jump ship. APL will be adjusting wages to the local AZ market, so those coming from higher paid locations like OAK will not see a pay raise for a long time.
Three years ago, Temasek sucked $800 million dollars out of the company in a "capital reduction". Basically a giveback to shareholders. That's money that could have easily held APL over during these difficult couple of years. Once again, NOL has built up $1.5 billion of cash reserves. It is choosing not to use them and instead use the current economic situation as a 'cover' to close down APL in Oakland and lay off hundreds of dedicated employees. Their jobs have not necessarily shifted to Scottsdale. Many jobs are being offshored in Costa Rica, Singapore, and to a new location TBA in China.
They dramatic downsizing and cheapening of staff is part of a larger gameplan. Within a year or so, I predict NOL will buy another carrier like OOCL or HL, and then to avoid having 3 names, simply rename everything to NOL.
The APL name will finally be put to rest, which will be good, as we can then remember the company for what it once was, and not what it is becoming, a large, low-cost, low-wage carrier that competes on little else but rates.
Posted by: A Swimmer | October 15, 2009 at 05:36 PM