Long-serving former Maersk Broker president and CEO Jorn Steen Nielsen has died at the age of 66.

The man credited with building the former AP Moller-Maersk shop into a market force passed away on New Year's Day after suffering from cancer for a number of years.

He left the shipbroker in 2014 after more than 40 years with the AP Moller-Maersk group, being succeeded by current CEO Anders Hald.