During the final years of the 1980s, Maersk Line concentrated on establishing a solid platform from which it could develop and expand. As in previous years, there was plenty of action but the main acquisitions were to come later, in the second half of the 1990s. A great deal of work, including cooperative efforts with other carriers, had to be put in place to build the platform before those later acquisitions could take place.

In Chapter 5 we looked at the success of an early hub port, Connecting Point Spain in Algeciras. Now, Maersk Line began to look at expanding Connecting Point Singapore. But connecting to where? Singapore was already a feeder hub with services to and from Indonesia, some Indonesian out-ports and to the main ports in Malaysia and Thailand. The main additional area not covered yet was Australia and New Zealand.