Founder Case Study | Supply Chain Transformation & Integration
Trusted to Help Design a Global Maersk Integration
Sherpa’s founder was selected as one of six global product experts across Maersk’s network to help design the confidential integration of APM Terminals Inland Services into Maersk Logistics & Services.
This was not a routine internal project. It was a high-stakes global transformation connected to Maersk’s broader “One Maersk” strategy — a move toward a more integrated, end-to-end logistics offering for customers.
The integration involved 36 business units, more than 100 locations, multiple regions, nearly 30 transportation management systems, and thousands of employees affected across the global organization.
The Challenge
Maersk was integrating a major inland services portfolio into its broader Logistics & Services organization.
The business included critical landside logistics capabilities such as trucking, depot operations, shunting, and barge services. These products had to be reviewed, positioned, and integrated into Maersk’s existing commercial, operational, financial, and organizational structure.
The work required far more than a corporate announcement. It required practical answers to complex questions:
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How should inland products fit into the broader Maersk offering?
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How should the organization be redesigned across regions?
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How should customers understand the value of the integration?
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How should duplicated departments, entities, roles, and systems be consolidated?
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How should financial and operating data be rolled up from nearly 30 transportation management systems?
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How could the business strengthen its market offering while capturing internal efficiency benefits?
The project carried major financial, operational, customer, employee, and market implications.
Sherpa Founder’s Role
Gareth Dobbs, founder of Sherpa Supply Chain, was selected for the global design team based on his experience across freight forwarding, trucking, inland product management, pricing, operations, and regional execution.
Working under NDA at a neutral site, the design team spent three weeks helping structure the integration before public announcement.
Gareth served as a practical product and operating model subject matter expert.
His role was to answer the grounded questions that determine whether an integration can actually work outside the strategy room:
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How do these products operate on the ground?
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Where do trucking, depot, shunting, and barge services fit commercially and operationally?
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How should these services connect to the existing Maersk structure?
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Where should product ownership sit?
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How should regional execution work after the global design was agreed?
The project involved collaboration with global product heads, global integration leaders, regional finance leaders, senior management, regional presidents, and Maersk Management Consultants.
Scope of Work
The integration design covered several interconnected workstreams.
Product Design & Integration
The team evaluated how inland services products should fit into Maersk’s broader logistics organization.
This included reviewing trucking, depot operations, shunting, and barge services, then determining how those products should be positioned, managed, sold, and executed inside the future organization.
The work required a practical understanding of both standalone inland operations and how those services attach to broader international freight forwarding and ocean freight solutions.
Organizational Design
The integration required a redesigned operating structure across regions and entities.
Gareth supported the work to understand how the organization should be structured, which roles should remain, how product ownership should be assigned, and how the new structure could be executed in the Latin America and U.S. organizations.
The regional execution scope included Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
Finance & Systems Alignment
The legacy and acquired organizations included nearly 30 transportation management systems.
The integration required understanding the book of business, aligning operating data with financial reporting, and determining how information could be rolled up at announcement and managed operationally going forward.
This was a critical step in connecting the internal financial reality with the external customer and market message.
Internal & External Communication
The integration also required careful communication planning.
Internally, the message had to explain what was changing, why it was changing, and how it would affect teams across the organization.
Externally, the message had to show customers how the integration would create a more streamlined, effective logistics offering and support Maersk’s end-to-end supply chain strategy.
Regional Execution
After the global design work, the integration moved into regional execution.
Gareth helped support the practical rollout across Latin America and the U.S., including organizational restructuring, role alignment, department consolidation, and regional implementation.
The project ultimately affected thousands of employees, with approximately 1,000 layoffs and as many as 5,000 people impacted in some way by the restructuring.
The Outcome
The integration was completed on time and supported Maersk’s broader strategy to strengthen its consolidated logistics and services offering in the market.
The work helped create a more streamlined structure for marketing, managing, and executing inland logistics products. It also supported internal efficiency benefits through the consolidation of systems, departments, roles, and entities.
The result was a more integrated operating model designed to connect inland logistics capabilities with Maersk’s broader end-to-end customer offering.
Why This Matters for Sherpa Clients
This case study validates the experience Sherpa brings to supply chain transformation, integration, and operating model work.
Many companies do not struggle because the strategy is unclear. They struggle because strategy, systems, people, products, finance, customer messaging, and execution are not aligned.
Sherpa helps clients connect those pieces.
The same skills used in this global Maersk integration are directly relevant to companies facing:
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Post-acquisition integration
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Supply chain transformation
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Commercial and operational restructuring
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Product or service-line integration
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Regional execution of global strategy
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Freight and logistics process redesign
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Organizational redesign across supply chain teams
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Customer-facing logistics service improvement
Sherpa brings more than advisory theory. It brings the perspective of an operator who has been trusted inside major global logistics organizations to help design and execute complex change with significant financial, organizational, and market impact.
Planning a supply chain transformation or integration?
Sherpa helps companies turn complex supply chain change into practical execution plans.
Whether you are integrating an acquisition, redesigning your logistics operating model, consolidating teams, or trying to connect strategy with execution, Sherpa can help you navigate the work with clarity.
Schedule a consultation to discuss your transformation or integration challenge.
Integration Achievements
1 of 6
Global product experts selected
3 weeks
Confidential pre-announcement design work
100+ locations
Global operating footprint involved
36 business units integrated
Publicly identified Inland Services portfolio
Nearly 30 systems
Transportation management systems to align
Up to 5,000 people affected
Major organizational restructuring