The A. P. Moller-Maersk Group () is an international business conglomerate more commonly known simply as Maersk. This article concerns the history of the company.

The beginning of the A.P. Møller-Mærsk Group was the shipping company Dampskibsselskabet Svendborg, founded by captain Peter Mærsk-Møller and his son Arnold Peter Møller (2 October 1876 – June 1965) in Svendborg, 1904. A.P. Møller had four children, one of whom was Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller. In 1940, he became a partner of the company. After the death of A.P. Møller in June 1965, Mc-Kinney Møller became CEO of the company and had this post until 1993, when he was succeeded by Jess Søderberg. Beginning in 1965, Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller also served as company chairman and did not relinquish this position until December 2003 (when he was 90 years old). He was still one of the "managing owners" of the company at the time of his death and was chairman of Odense Steel Shipyard until 2 May 2006.

1886–1945: Beginnings to World War II

1886: Captain Peter Mærsk-Møller buys his first steamship, the British-built SS Laura. 1904: The Steamship Company Svendborg is founded by Captain Peter Mærsk-Møller and Arnold Peter Møller. The company's first ship was the British-built 2,200 tdw cargo steamer Svendborg. 1912: Steamship Company of 1912 is founded by A.P. Møller. 1918-1919: A.P. Møller builds his own shipyard, the Odense Staalskibsvaerft near the Odense Canal in the city of Odense. Keels are laid for the first two ships. May 1920: The newly erected Odense Yard delivers its first ship, the Robert Mærsk. 1921: Odense Yard delivers its first diesel-powered vessel Leise Maersk to A.P. Møller. 1926: A.P. Møller enters into the tanker business and orders 5 motor tankers with 8,100 and 11,200 tdw. 1928: A.P. Møller begins the first liner service under the Name Mærsk Line with 6 motor ships, each 6000-7000 tdw on the Trans Pacific Route Far East – US West coast and via the Panama Canal to Baltimore. Feb. 1928: A.P. Møller gets its first tanker, the 11.200 tdw motor tanker Emma Mærsk, built by Burmeister & Wain, Copenhagen. March 1928: Odense Yard builds its first tanker, the 8,000 tdw M.T. Anna Mærsk. 1930: A.P. Møller becomes the co-owner of the weapons factory Riffelsyndikatet. In the following years he increases his share from 15 to 31.6%, to become the largest shareholder.Mærsk · manden og magten, p. 96 1934: Mærsk Line gets the 9,000 tdw cargo motorship Nora Mærsk from Odense Yard, but after 2 years of service it sinks due to a fire in Indonesia. Dec. 1936: The 16,500 tdw motortanker Eleonora Mærsk is delivered from the Deutsche Werft, Hamburg-Finkenwerder and is the biggest ship of the Mærsk fleet and also the largest single-crew motorship in the world. 1936: With the M.S. Francine, A.P. Møller gets from Odense yard its first reefer vessel. It is chartered to J. Lauritzen A/S, Denmark. 1937: Mærsk Line receives two 9,000 tdw motor cargo ships from Bremer Vulkan. The vessels are named Marchen Mærsk and Grete Mærsk.

1937: Odense Yard delivers two 7,000 tdw white-painted hull cargo ships Gudrun Mærsk and Robert Mærsk with reefer capacity. Feb. 1939: Odense Yard delivers the 9,200 tdw M.S. Laura Mærsk the largest cargo ship to the Mærsk fleet. Sept. 1939: At the beginning of World War II, A.P. Møller is the second largest shipping company in Denmark with a total of 46 ships. April 1940: On 8 April 1940, A.P. Møller issues Permanent Special Instruction One to the 36 Mærsk ships on the high seas. Should Denmark become involved in war, all ships were to report directly to the New York office and follow its instructions. No orders from Copenhagen were to be followed if not approved by the New York office. On the next morning, 9 April 1940, Germany invades Denmark and Norway, and Denmark surrenders the same day. On 24 April, Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller is made a partner in the company, and on 26 April he and his wife leave Denmark. Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller manages the New York office throughout World War II. June 1941: The United States takes control of foreign ships and the Mærsk fleet serves in the US Navy for the rest of the war. More than half of the Mærsk fleet is lost during the war. 10 May 1943: The Riffelsyndikatet company is sabotaged by members of the Danish resistance. A.P. Møller travels personally to Stockholm and requests of Danish newspaper Politiken's correspondent that he "tells London to put an end to sabotage", which "is harmful to Danish interests".Mærsk · manden og magten, p. 98 22 June 1944: New sabotage action is taken by members of resistance group BOPA, who occupy Riffelsyndikatet and detonate a charge which prevents the resumption of production for the remainder of World War II .

1945–1965: Reconstruction following World War II June 1945: Mærsk's pre-WWII fleet had been reduced to just seven ships. Another 14 ships remained under the control of the US under the US shipping board until 1946. 9 Oct. 1945: The "Collaborationist Acts", (in Danish: Værnemagerlovene) III and IV are passed by the Danish Folketing. They demand that profits earned by companies dealing with Germany during the occupation and judged to be excessive, be paid back to the state. Riffelsyndikatet, and other A. P Møller-owned shipping and industrial companies such as the still extant Odense Steel Shipyard and the Bukh Motor Works are fined a total of approximately 10 million Danish kroner (the equivalent of about 150 million in 2004)Mærsk · manden og magten, pp. 98-102. 1947-48: A shipbuilding program is started. New vessels are ordered at yards in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Japan. Mærsk also takes over several US war-built ships of the U.S. Liberty and C-1 class and German-designed "Hansa A" and "Hansa B" class. 1953: Chastine Mærsk becomes the first of 13 motor ships in a new fast cargo ship class. The Mærsk fleet now has the same size as it had before World War II. 1954: The turbine tanker Regina Mærsk is launched, setting a new size-record for the Odense Yard. It is also the first Mærsk vessel with a blue-painted hull. 1956: The S.S. Hans Mærsk (built 1916) is sold after 40 years of service in the Mærsk fleet. 1959: The newly constructed Odense Lindø Yard, located in Munkebo around 10 km away from the old yard, opens. It has two large building docks and begins with laying the keel for two 50,000 tdw tankers. 1961: The first ships built at Lindø are five 50,000 tdw turbine tankers produced for Standard Oil of California and three for the Mærsk Line. Until 1977, the Yard mostly produced 100,000 tdw tankers. From 1968, 200,000 and 250,000 tdw tankers are produced, from 1971 280,000 tdw tankers, and ultimately 330,000 tdw tankers are produced as well. 1962: The Danish government grants A.P. Møller a license to search for oil in the Danish part of the North Sea. At the time, almost nobody expects any oil to be found. A new oil company, Mærsk Olie og Gas A/S, is later founded. 1962 – 1963: Three ships of the Trein Mærsk-class enters service. At the time, they were the company's largest cargo liners. 1964: Dansk Supermarked A/S is founded. 1965: A.P. Møller's Odense Yard produces its first product tankers Dangulf Mærsk and Svengulf Mærsk.

1965 – 1993: Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller takes the helm 1966: The Bulkcarrier Laura Mærsk (yard no. 177) is the last ship produced at the old Odense Yard. The old yard is closed. 1967: A.P. Møller produces its first supply vessel, Mærsk Supplier. 1967 : The Odense Lindø Yard is enlarged with a new 90 x 420 m construction dock with a great gantry crane. This enables the construction of VLCC tankers, later ULCC Tankers, and now Ultra-Post-Panamax container ships. Nov. 1967 – 1969: Mærsk Line produces the last class of seven fast conventional motor cargo vessels, the Cecilie Mærsk-class. At test runs, they reach a maximum of 26 knots. They are used in the Europe-Far East service and in the Trans-Pacific service. In 1974, they are converted to semi-container ships, and following a large modification programme, as full container ships in 1980. 1968: Odense Lindø Yard builds its first 200,000 tdw tanker, Dirch Mærsk. 1969: Maersk Air is founded and begins operations the following year.

July 1971: Odense Yard produces the 283,000 tdw turbine tanker Regina Mærsk, the biggest ship in Europe. 1972: The first gas tanker for A.P. Møller, Inge Mærsk enters service. 1973: Mærsk Line adds its first container ship to the fleet, the Japanese-constructed Svendborg Mærsk (). July 1974: Odense Yard builds the turbine tanker Kristine Mærsk (330,000 tdw), the biggest tanker in Europe. Six more vessels of this class are built for A.P. Møller until 1977. 1975: The Clara Mærsk rescues 3500 refugees fleeing the end of the Vietnam War and brings them to Hong Kong. Aug. 1975-1976: Mærsk Line receives nine fast single screw turbine container ships, the Adrian Mærsk-class, from the German shipyards Blohm & Voss (Hamburg) and Flenderwerft (Lübeck) for use in the trans-Pacific service. They are designed by United Ship Design & Development Centre in Taiwan. April 1979: Construction of the new company headquarters at Esplanaden is completed. 1980: Six Odense built RORO-container ships (Elisabeth Mærsk-class) are added to the Mærsk fleet. January 1981: Mærsk Line opens its own container service on the Europe-Far East route with the first container ship built at Odense Yard, Laura Mærsk (). Ten sister ships join the fleet until 1985. 1988: A.P. Møller opens a container factory in Tinglev, Denmark. 1988: Mærsk begins a trans-Atlantic container service. April 1988: Odense Yard produces the Marchen Mærsk (), the largest containership of the world. Eleven more ships are built between 1988 and 1991. 1989: Mærsk Line introduces the 45' container as a third standard container size. 1991-1996: Mærsk and P & O begin a joined global container service. 1992: The first large gas carrier Inger Mærsk (80,000 cbm) is added to the fleet. Dec. 1992: Odense Yard produces the world's first double-hull 300,000 tdw tanker, Eleo Mærsk. Until 1995, 5 sister ships are produced for Mærsk Line and 3 additional for Saudi Arabian VELA.

1993 – 1999: Bigger and bigger

March 1993: Mærsk Line takes over the EacBen Container Line Ltd. with 9 large container ships. It becomes the largest container business in the world. Dec. 1995: Hyundai H.I., Ulsan delivers the Panamax container ship Dragør Mærsk, the first of a series of 16 ships for Mærsk Line. Jan. 1996: The world's largest container ship, Regina Mærsk, is delivered from Odense Yard and begins the Europe – Far East liner service. At this time it holds many records: first ship more than capacity, with a length of 318.2 meters, it is the first container ship more than 300 meters; first with 42.80 m breadth and first over 80,000 BRZ and tdw. May 1996: The Mærsk cooperation of the liner service with P&O is ended and a new global containerservice with Sealand Corporation is started. Sept. 1997: Odense Yard delivers Sovereign Maersk, the world's first and more than 100,000 tdw container ship to the Mærsk fleet. It is also 346 meters long; the longest ship in the world at that time. 31 January 1998: A.P. Møller Group acquires the Volkswerft in Stralsund (Germany) from the German Treuhand for 25 million dollars. The yard is completely modernized, including a large shipbuilding hall and a 230 m (now 275 m length) ship lift to launch the ships. Container ships (2,500 class) are produced for the Mærsk fleet. They have a size of 2,900-. Supply vessels and cable-laying vessels are also produced. February 1999: Mærsk takes control of the Safmarine container line, including the Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) with 50 owned and chartered container vessels. 1999: First vessel from mainland China (People's Republic of China), a 35,000 tdw R-class tanker built at Guangzhou Shipyard International.

1999 – 2005: Mærsk-Sealand