AP Moller-Maersk boss Soren Skou has a problem. That might sound like good news. The company he runs is not just the world’s biggest containership owner and operator but a world leader in an industry of which shipowning is just the floating piece. It now sees itself as a potential peer of FedEx and UPS.

It should feel flattered that powerful and determined rivals are trying to copy the global, door-to-door approach that has put it in its world-beating position.