Maersk CEO Søren Skou told newspaper Berlingske that Maersk will introduce the requirement “within the next three months”.

The firm is the first major Danish company to apply such a rule relating to vaccination against the coronavirus. It will also apply the policy in some of its offices in other countries but will exempt those where vaccine supply is short, according to the report.

“We have to make it as difficult as possible for those who are not vaccinated and require tests all the time. But we can’t make a global rule on this,” Skou told Berlingske.

The company, Denmark’s largest, decided to implement the requirement because the effectiveness and safety of the Covid-19 vaccines is now well known, according to Skou.

The CEO also said that Maersk would be keen to help in locations where it is harder to get staff to accept vaccination.

The decision will be implemented in compliance with local laws and trade union agreements, Maersk said in a statement given to Berlingske.

The company has over 80,000 staff in 130 countries according to its website.

Danish engineers’ trade union IDA said it does not support companies requiring on-site staff to be vaccinated.

“It’s not reasonable to demand you must be vaccinated to be able to come to work. It’s reasonable to demand you are healthy,” IDA’s chairperson Thomas Damkjær Petersen told news wire Ritzau.

“Therefore, our recommendation is that you look after yourself and your colleagues.

“And if you have symptoms of corona, you should stay home and get tested,” Petersen added.

Another trade union, Djøf, also told Ritzau it could “not accept either a test or vaccination requirement” for members and noted that Denmark does not have a law which enables employers to demand staff are vaccinated.

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