MAERSK

One company. One container. A system that rewired global trade.

MAERSK is the story of how a Danish shipping company grew into one of the central architectures of modern global commerce — and how the container transformed far more than transportation.

Alexander Brovkin follows the evolution of maritime trade from break-bulk ports and the rise of containerisation to mega-ships, automated terminals, integrated logistics, data platforms and the Gemini network.

But this is not simply a corporate history.

Through Maersk, the book examines a larger question: who controls the movement of global trade?

The answer leads from ships to terminals, from terminals to railways and warehouses, and from physical infrastructure to the invisible systems of data that increasingly determine whether goods move at all.

The book also explores the vulnerabilities created by that integration: the NotPetya cyberattack, the Ever Given blockage of the Suez Canal, pandemic-era container shortages, disruption in the Red Sea, automation and the growing tension between efficiency and resilience.

MAERSK: The Container Empire is a narrative analysis of the system behind the container — how it was built, how it changed the geography of production and trade, and what happens when the system stops behaving as expected.

For readers interested in global trade, shipping, logistics, infrastructure, business strategy and the hidden machinery of the world economy.