Wikipedia talk:Peer review/A.P. Moller-Maersk Group/archive1

It might be worth adding a mention of the fact that AP Moller-Maersk, through its subsidiary Maersk Lines Ltd (MLL) based in Norfolk VA, is also the largest provider of ocean shipping services to the US military. According to its website at www.maersklinelimited.com/mll/transportation/fleet/index.asp, MLL currently (Sept 06) operates 56 US-flag ships either commercially (27 ships) or under contract or charter to the US military (29 ships). This makes AP Moller-Maersk by most measures the biggest US-flag ship operator, period. (Most but not all ships in MLL's military fleet are owned by the US military. Periodic contract renewals entail that the total size of the MLL fleet could change significantly and suddenly from time to time. Most but not all of the MLL non-military fleet is under MLL ownership or effective ownership (through long-term leases). A significant proportion of cargoes even for the non-military part of the MLL fleet are carried for the US military; furthermore, most of the non-military MLL fleet is subsidised under the Maritime Security Program (MSP), currently at a rate of $2.6m per year (US Code Title 46 Subtitle V Chapter 531 § 53106), the purpose of this subsidy being to assure that US-flag commercial ships will be available to US authorities in time of war or other emergency. MLL is an important player in lobbying on maritime issues in Washington; source that from relevant bits of opensecrets.org and its main source site, sopr.senate.gov, if you like.) (One useful source for current lists of large oceangoing non-naval US-flag vessels is to be found at the coltoncompany.com website. That site is constantly updated, with the date of latest updates recorded. -- Information on many of the commercial or privately operated ships that operate under contract or charter to the US military can be found at www.msc.navy.mil and good luck navigating that daunting site.)