AP Moller-Maersk chief executive Soren Skou has said consumers can meet the multibillion cost of ridding the boxship fleet of carbon emissions.
In an interview over the weekend on BBC World News, Skou said shipowners face huge expenses for green solutions, but for an individual customer, the bill will be "almost nothing".
He cited the example of a container being shipped from Vietnam, where the consumer would end up paying "something like six cents per pair of sneakers".
He said: "So I don't think that it will really impact the consumption opportunities for consumers out there. I'm absolutely sure that this is doable, from a consumer point of view."
Skou again said his company has "an ambition to decarbonise global logistics".
The group spends about $4bn a year on fuel. This would have to "maybe double" to cut out carbon, he added.
Fees to rise
In turn, Maersk would have to charge clients 20% more.
The group revealed earlier this month that it aims to have a first carbon-neutral feedership on the water in 2023, seven years earlier than it had originally planned.
The vessel will run on methanol.
Skou also addressed the crew-change problem during the pandemic last year.
"We at any given time have 6,000 people on the ships — 55% of them were out longer than the longest duration of their contract, and we had fixed the problem by Christmas," he said.
Maersk's financial clout means it could get seafarers home quicker than smaller owners.
The group has leased hotels in the countries where most of its crew come from, so that it can isolate them.
"Before they go on board, we can test them," Skou said. "We know that they don't have the virus when they get on board the ships".
Maersk is also chartering its own planes to change crews over.
