Dear shareholders. As chairman of the board of directors, I would like to welcome you to this annual general meeting of A.P. Møller - Mærsk A/S. Again, this year, we are required to conduct the annual general meeting digitally, and we have therefore chosen to hold the meeting via this live stream. Given the way the pandemic has developed, this is the only responsible way in which we can hold this year's meeting for our shareholders and employees. Welcome. To chair today's AGM, the board of directors has appointed Attorney at Law, Niels Kornerup. I give the floor to the chair of the meeting.
Thank you very much for the appointment to be the chairman of the AGM. I hope we'll be able to conduct this first fully electronic AGM of A.P. Møller - Mærsk in a good manner, given the new framework.
I want to mention that the transmission occurs with a delay of between 20 and 30 seconds, depending on your internet connection. Therefore, at times, I will slow down a bit so that we can get fully synchronized between what happens here and what you see on your screens. Before we start the agenda, there are a couple of formal things I have to go through. First, we have to ensure that the AGM has been correctly convened. Before the AGM, I saw that the convening notice was sent out in the correct time in accordance with the Danish Companies Act and the Articles of Association. Article 11 of the articles requires two-thirds of the A share capital to be present for the AGM to be quorumed. That is relevant for item I on the agenda. I have made sure that this requirement is complied with.
The AGM has been legally convened and is competent for the transaction of the business of the agenda. I hope the shareholders agree with this. Just before the AGM started, we registered that about 86% of the shares and the share capital is represented in the AGM, and that has been counted deducting own shares. B capital is not eligible for votes. We have received postal votes and proxies for 84.6% of the share capital. There is great support for all the proposals from the board of directors by more than 80%. The final numbers will appear from the protocol. As I've mentioned earlier, or at earlier AGMs, we also have to deal with the Danish Companies Act, Section 101.5, which requires a full report on voting patterns for each decision in an AGM, even though the result is quite clear, as it will be today.
I propose that we follow the normal practice at A.P. Møller - Mærsk's AGMs and depart from that requirement, which we are allowed to do. I assume that as earlier years, you can support this. Now I'm slowing down a bit in case anybody has any comments. It is possible to follow the AGM both on the company's website and on the AGM Portal. Shareholders who have registered for the AGM and want to participate in the debate need to log in on the AGM Portal. It's not possible to take part in the debate and ask questions if you follow the AGM via the webcast on the company website. We will now look at how the debate and electronic communication with shareholders will work. Everything happens through the AGM Portal, which all shareholders who have registered have received a login for.
If you want to ask a question, you need to click the icon on the top of the screen marked by the red circle. When you click the icon, a window opens where you can write in the text area at the bottom of the screen, and then you send the question by clicking the arrow. All the relevant documents needed can be found under the document icon in the top line. To get the best experience from this AGM, I would recommend that you open the screen to fully cover the screen. You do that by clicking on the square in the top right corner, right next to this arrow, again marked with a red square. As the debate will be in writing this year, I would ask you to be brief and concise in your comments and questions.
That way, we can conduct all the written comments and read them out in a timely manner. Of course, we understand that it takes time to formulate a question or a comment. If you have a question or a comment, we would therefore encourage you to send us a small warning saying that a question or a comment is pending. You can send this warning in the same way as you send the question. You can just write, "Question on the way," or "Question pending." We know that there's something coming, and we will wait for that question before we move on to the next item on the agenda. If you already now have a question or comment planned, you can send it to us already. You don't need to wait for that item on the agenda.
We will, of course, make sure that we place the comment in the right place in relation to the agenda. If there are any technical problems, do contact Computershare on the telephone number under the screen below me. Any technical issues can be handled through that telephone number, please not through the chat. That brings us to the agenda. The agenda has been sent out and it's like this. First item A, report on the activities of the company during the past financial year. B, submission of the audited annual report for adoption. C, resolution to grant discharge. D, resolution on appropriation of profit, including the amount of dividends or covering of loss in accordance with the adopted annual report. E, the remuneration report is presented for approval. F, resolution on authority to acquire own shares. G, election of members of the board.
H, election of auditors. That brings us to I, deliberation of any proposals submitted by the Board of Directors. This year there are four proposals. Number one is authorization to declare extraordinary dividend. B is reduction in the share capital. three, changing the articles of association in four items. Item one is a change in the company's main objects. Article 3, deleting a sentence about the requirement to hold shares for the directors. Three is a technical change. Four is to delete article 15.1 in the articles of association. The last thing to vote on is I, four, is having a completely electronic AGM, and that's by adopting a new section. That's the agenda, and we will move into it straight away. As A.P. Møller - Mærsk, we will cover the first items on the agenda as one.
This year, we have a new item on the agenda, item E, the remuneration report. Therefore, we will cover items A, B, C, D, E as one. With that, I give the floor to the Chairman of the Board, Jim Hagemann Snabe, who will present the annual report and motivate appropriation of profits, et cetera.
Thank you very much. When we stood here last year, none of us imagined how unusual a year 2020 would be for the world community, for our health, and for our daily lives. 2020 was also an unusual A.P. Møller - Mærsk. In a lockdown world, we were all reminded how important the world's supply chains are and how important it has been that the global network of ships, ports, roads, and other critical infrastructure has been kept open and well functioning. It has guaranteed food on the supermarket shelves, medicines in the pharmacies, and not least, the availability of personal protective equipment. Our ships have sailed 24/7 despite the lockdown. Our terminals have been working around the clock, and instead of staffing our offices, our employees have been working flat out from home to keep things flowing.
Let me therefore begin with a big thank you to all of our 80,000 plus employees around the world for their extraordinary efforts to keep the wheels of the world economy moving in spite of COVID-19. 2020 was also the year A.P. Møller - Mærsk turned an important corner in the ambitious transformation process that was initiated in 2016, with the aim of creating a focused and integrated transport and logistics company with growth and higher and more stable profitability.
With the development in 2020, we can now clearly see the outline of A.P. Møller - Mærsk comprises three main business areas, ocean, terminals, and logistics. All three of these pillars are now strong and profitable. Once we A.P. Møller - Mærsk can meet customer demand for a long-term strategic partner who safeguards their supply chain in the best possible way, also under difficult conditions.
A.P. Møller - Mærsk is significantly stronger than when we started the transformation. We have become more customer oriented, more agile and more digital. Above all, we can see that the transformation is working as we had hoped. We have reduced our debt, and on the basis of the strong performance in 2020, we have the financial strength to accelerate development further. When we launched the A.P. Møller - Mærsk in 2016, the intention was clear.
We wanted to transform our company from a conglomerate into a focused and integrated transport and logistics company. Our goal was to make container transport simpler and, at the same time, more sustainable. We wanted to deliver more value to our customers, while at the same time increasing efficiency. We initiated the transformation by removing the companies involved in energy, which did not support our new goal of becoming a focused transport and logistics company.
After the companies were successfully divested, we focused on increasing the efficiency of our core ocean freight business and on exploiting the synergies between ocean freight and port terminals. The aim of this was to increase our profitability so that we could invest in the future and further reduce our debt. Thus, at the beginning of 2020, we were able to begin the third phase of the transformation, in which we focused on strengthening the third pillar, logistics and services, and bringing our three business areas closer together to deliver on the vision of A.P. Møller - Mærsk. I will briefly outline the rationale of our strategy based on this model, which illustrates how we create value for our customers and between the different business areas. Today, we can see that the global supply chain has become increasingly complex, making the transport of goods more vulnerable and unreliable.
Customers are being challenged by everything from trade wars to extreme weather events, and most recently by a pandemic. This all contributes to supply chains becoming more dynamic. For our customers, this has meant that more and more people are switching their focus from pure cost minimization to prioritizing simple, reliable solutions which ensure that goods arrive where they need to be on time. The illustration shows our three business areas in the pale blue circles: Ocean, Terminals, and Logistics and Services. Each of them must be strong, profitable, and globally leading, while together creating synergies and value for our customers A.P. Møller - Mærsk. Our core business is still sea freight, or simply ocean, as we A.P. Møller - Mærsk is the world's largest container shipping company. We ship more than 1 million containers every single month.
We have been consolidating Ocean, and given our freight volumes, the goal is to continue to be a cost leader while also offering the best reliability. In Terminals, our port business, we operate more than 70 ports worldwide, especially in Latin America and Africa. From an initial phase, which saw the development of new Terminals, over the past three years, we have focused on increasing the efficiency and profitability of our Terminals while helping to make our network even more efficient. Logistics and Services is our third business area, which primarily covers transport solutions on land and logistics between the various types of transport. This is a significant growth area, which at the same time gives us strategic relations with our customers. The two dark blue circles in the illustration are where we create synergies between the business areas. Here, A.P.
Møller-Mærsk has a significant competitive advantage compared to straight logistics companies. In the left hand dark blue circle, the interaction between ocean and logistics and services translates into a number of customer synergies. In ocean, we have about 70,000 customers. At the moment, only a fraction of these customers are also logistics and services customers. However, this is set to change. If we work even more closely together and optimize all links in the value chain, we can increase efficiency internally and, at the same time, deliver an even better end product to the customer. We can offer a fully integrated transport solution to our ocean customers, a solution that covers their entire supply chain from start to finish. This will save the customer both time and resources, enabling them to focus on improving their core business.
At the same time, it allows us to increase our earnings and reduce our dependence on freight rates, and in so doing, generate higher and more stable earnings overall. The development of logistics and services is taking place organically and, to a large extent, through acquisitions. In 2020, we made two acquisitions. In April, we bought and took over a leading U.S. company specializing in warehouse operations and distribution, Performance Team. Together with the customs broker, Vandegrift, which we acquired in 2019, this has strengthened our position on the U.S. market with a doubling of our operations in North America. In September, we acquired KGH Customs Services, a European company headquartered in Sweden, which specializes in customs declaration. This has led, among other things, to a more than fivefold increase in our share of customs declarations in Europe.
With these investments in logistics solutions, we have strengthened our position as an integrated logistics company, especially within warehousing, distribution, and customs clearance. These are areas that help to generate higher growth and stable earnings in the company, and which we also expect to grow further in the future as well. In the interaction between ocean and terminals, the dark blue circle on the right, in recent years, we have optimized the collaboration and exploited the synergies, primarily from a financial and operational perspective. The ever-growing volumes from ocean, which we transport via our own ports, have, together with increased automation, made it possible to increase efficiency at the terminals and thus improve profitability. The last aspect of the illustration is that which holds everything together, technology. A key part of our strategy is to be a digital front-runner, both externally and internally.
This means, among other things, that we must make the most of digital developments to improve our interaction with customers, while at the same time using technology and the growing data volumes to make better decisions and drive the business more efficiently. We have worked intensively to develop our digital capabilities both internally and externally. Today, we can offer our customers new products that make it easier for them to import and export goods, while at the same time increasing transparency. In 2020, we strengthened our product palette with Mærsk Spot, which became available on trade routes in almost all parts of the world. Mærsk Spot offers the customer transparent prices and guaranteed space on the ship the customer is booking. Basically, it functions in much the same way as booking a plane ticket online. Twill also saw growth in 2020.
It's a product that I've mentioned at previous general meetings and which is targeted at our small and medium-sized ocean customers. Twill ended the year with more than 13 times as much volume as at the beginning of the year. In July, we launched Mærsk Flow. This is a digital product which enables small and medium-sized enterprises to take digital control of their own supply chains from factory to final destination. In October, we introduced an online platform, Mærsk NeoNav, which is designed to cater for customers with more complex supply chains. Here we offer an integrated solution with a high degree of automation and self-service. The digital agenda has been firmly established in 2020. After large parts of the world went into lockdown to varying degrees, we have been more dependent on well-functioning IT platforms than ever before.
Thus, in 2020, we further developed our platform, maersk.com, which is one of the world's largest business-to-business trading platforms and which is well-established and well-known among our customers. We have made interacting with customers more direct and easier, among other things, by using our Mærsk app and virtual assistants such as Captain Peter. However, our digital ambitions go beyond digitalizing A.P. Møller - Mærsk. As I've also mentioned at previous general meetings, we're also keen to support the digitalization of the transport industry in general. In this respect, the TradeLens platform plays a key role. TradeLens is an open platform supported by blockchain technology and developed in collaboration with IBM. TradeLens is a key element in our vision to eliminate all physical paperwork in the transport sector.
In October, we partnered with two more of the world's largest shipping companies, so that the TradeLens platform now covers more than half of the global network for ocean freight. This creates the foundation for TradeLens to set the standard for digitalizing the entire industry and help increase efficiency and profitability for everyone. After four years of hard work, at the end of 2020, we could see that the transformation is working as we had hoped. That can be seen in our results for the same period. For the last 10 quarters, we have seen continuous improvements in our operating earnings, which have improved each successive quarter compared to the same period the previous year, and regardless of the very changing market conditions over the same period. This is very satisfactory. Tomorrow's A.P.
Møller-Mærsk is a modern, integrated, sustainable, and not least, flexible company with a strong digital basis that delivers the best logistics service in the industry and which has the most efficient and sustainable transport network. While 2020 was influenced to a considerable extent by the very special market conditions caused by COVID-19, the underlying results show how the efforts which have been made in recent years have shaped the company. During the period, we have further increased efficiency. Specifically, this has meant lower unit costs, and we will continue to improve cost levels through increased automation. This is essential to ensure profitable development in future, and one of the main reasons why, despite a decrease in transported volumes for the year as a whole, with a decrease of 5% in Ocean and 3.6% in APM Terminals, we have significantly increased our profit.
Our free cash flow also improved markedly, and we have reduced our debt so that today we have a strong balance sheet and thus a good starting point for investing and developing our business in future. At the same time, as mentioned above, our third business area, Logistics and service, has been significantly developed. In 2020, earnings in Logistics and services more than doubled relative to 2019. This is very satisfactory. As mentioned above, growth has been created both organically and through acquisitions. This key figure is important, as it shows that we now have a significant logistics and services business. At the same time, we have shown that we can grow this part of the business profitably, which ultimately leads to more stable earnings and a higher return for A.P. Møller - Mærsk.
While 2020 was an important year for our transformation, it goes without saying that the year was impacted to a great extent by the COVID-19 pandemic. When the pandemic struck in early 2020, the market conditions for our business changed drastically. At first, there was a sudden drop in freight volumes, but this was followed in the second half of the year by an equally dramatic upturn. In light of the large fluctuations in demand and the resulting operational challenges, as well as the negative oil price in April, we were grateful for the fact that we had come as far as we had in the transformation process, and not least that the energy companies now had better owners.
From the beginning of the pandemic, it was clear to us that our three most important priorities were safeguarding the health of our employees, helping our customers with their supply chains, and doing what we could to bring society through the pandemic in the best possible way. Due to our investments in digitalization, we were able to ask thousands of employees to work from home while continuing to keep the supply chains running. We were thus able to help ensure that the supermarket remained well-stocked and that consumption continued. This would not have been possible without our sailors, who had a difficult time in 2020. The importance of their efforts cannot be stressed highly enough. Many of our seafarers spent longer at sea than anyone could reasonably expect of them, far away from their families and at a time of great uncertainty.
We set great store by their invaluable contribution, and we are very grateful for the work being performed by all sailors worldwide. Our strategy of taking more responsibility in transport from production to end customer proved very relevant in a world in which many companies were finding it difficult to have their goods delivered on time. Our transformation ensured that we could prioritize our logistics customers and deliver goods more reliably than the industry as a whole. If anything, the pandemic has thus confirmed our strategy and given us even more reason to accelerate the transformation towards becoming an integrated container transport and logistics company with a high degree of digitalization. As part of this report, I will now look at the financial year 2020 in a little more detail.
In 2020, our priorities were to steer the company safely through an uncertain period while continuing the transformation of our business. At the beginning of the year, the demand outlook was on par with the previous year, i.e., a growth corresponding to 1%-3% at an increasing bunker price as a result of the new requirements to sail on cleaner fuel. In the very different market conditions, we managed to steer safely through the crisis and significantly increase our earnings, in spite of the fact that the Ocean freight volumes we transported decreased by 5% in 2020. In fact, we revised our expectations upwards three times in 2020 from $5.5 billion to between $8 billion and $8.5 billion, which testifies to an extraordinary year. The high rates at the end of 2020 were a significant reason for this.
However, being able to continuously adapt our business to changing conditions was also a crucial factor. Revenue increased by 2.2%, while earnings and cash flow increased significantly. Total profit before depreciation, amortization, interest, and tax, the EBITDA, increased in 2020 by 44% or $2.5 billion. The increase in earnings comes primarily from the Ocean segment, which remains our largest business area and which improved its profit by 48% or $2.1 billion-$ 6.5 billion.
In addition, we more than doubled the profit in logistics and services from $216 million-$ 454 million in 2020. Finally, Terminals and Towage improved its profit by almost 8% to $1.5 billion. In Ocean, revenue was up by 1.4% in 2020, despite lower volumes being transported, while the total costs were 5.8% lower than the previous year, not least due to factors which are under our control, i.e., our ability to adjust available capacity according to demands, as well as capacity utilization. This has, among other things, meant that we have consumed 6.9% less fuel, which also significantly reduced our carbon emissions. In the second half of the year, we saw a market increase in demand, which we were unable to accommodate with the ships and containers available. This situation pushed up freight rates, and in the fourth quarter, we saw extraordinarily high earnings due to the increasing rates.
Our logistics business revenue increased by 10% as a result of the higher level of activity in intermodal warehousing and distribution. In the port business, revenue fell by 3.6% as a result of falling volumes. At the same time, we managed to reduce costs by 8.1% and thus increase profitability overall. This is largely due to the skill with which operational efficiency has been increased over successive quarters in recent years.
In 2020, our return on invested capital increased to 9.6% compared to 3.2% in 2019, driven by rising earnings and continued capital discipline. In 2020, depreciation totaled $4.5 billion against $4.3 billion in 2019. This is mainly due to write-downs in 2020 in excess of $100 million, for example, in our port business. Gains on the sale of fixed assets totaled $202 million against $71 million the year before. The total profit before tax by A.P. Møller.
- Mærsk was $3.3 billion compared to $967 million in 2019. Total tax amounted to $407 million compared to $458 million in 2019. In 2020, we paid $44 million in tax in Denmark compared to $156 million in 2019, primarily due to extraordinarily high tax payments in 2019. Cash flows from operating activities amounted to $7.8 billion against $5.9 billion the year before. The increase in cash flows reflects the increase in earnings before depreciation, as well as a continued high cash conversion rate. In 2020, we continued to focus on capital discipline, and we invested $1.3 billion compared to $2 billion in 2019. Among other things in containers, IT, as well as completing terminal projects in Port Elizabeth in the U.S., Vado in Italy, and Tema in Ghana.
Given the higher cash flows from operations and the lower cash flows invested in fixed assets, we have increased our free cash flows to $4.6 billion. The total equity A.P. Møller - Mærsk at the end of 2020 was 55% against 52% at the end of 2019. At the end of 2020, our liquidity reserve amounted to $11 billion, up from $10.5 billion the previous year. At the same time, we have completed share buyback programs totaling $ 806 million. We reduced our interest-bearing debt from $11.7 billion- $9.2 billion. If one discounts our leases, the interest-bearing debt at the end of 2020 was $485 million. This means that today we are basically debt-free. We have thus strengthened our balance sheet and our financial preparedness.
With our strong free cash flows, we feel well equipped to make profitable investments in the future, both in terms of growth, acquisitions, sustainability, and new competencies, while at the same time being able to pay dividends to our shareholders. The total profit for the year was $2.9 billion compared to $509 million in 2019. Based on these financial results, the Board of Directors has proposed a dividend for 2020 of DKK 330 per share, which is more than double that paid in 2019, and in line with our dividend policy of distributing dividends in the region of 30%-50% of the underlying result. Total ordinary dividend payouts amount to DKK 6.6 billion. With the proposal, the Board of Directors wishes to highlight the fact that we have significantly improved earnings in 2020, while making significant progress at transforming the company.
We still want to maintain a high degree of financial preparedness, in order to continue our transformation with investments in 2021, especially within logistics and digital solutions. As we are succeeding with the transformation, we have also developed the organization. On the executive board, we have had the pleasure of welcoming Patrick Jany as our new CFO in May. From day one, Patrick has made an active contribution with a strong background in cost optimization and transformation, as well as the acquisition and sale of businesses. In January, Henriette Thygesen joined the executive board as head of our fleet and strategic brands, including Svitzer and Mærsk Container Industry. Henriette has been with A.P. Møller - Mærsk since 1994 and has delivered impressive results, most recently as head of Svitzer. Henriette Thygesen has also been made responsible for our ambitious plans for a carbon neutral fleet.
Finally, we have established a new management structure in which we have brought together ocean and logistics and services under Vincent Clerc. The structure creates a better foundation for growing our logistics business while ensuring synergies with our market leading position in the ocean segment. These changes to the executive board ensure that we now have a stronger team. In parallel, we have recruited several strong managers from outside the company to strengthen our skills in new areas such as logistics and digitalization. I would like to thank Søren Skou and the entire executive board for the huge efforts they have made to transform the company, while at the same time delivering strong results in a very difficult market. Thank you all.
At last year's annual general meeting, we adopted our remuneration policy, and we presented the first edition of our remuneration report with the full transparency required by the new rules. This year, therefore, we're not going to consider the remuneration policy itself, but we are required to approve the remuneration report. From 2021, it is a fixed item on the agenda at the AGM, that the AGM votes on whether or not to approve the remuneration report. The report has been issued together with the financial statements and can be found on our website, but let me summarize it here. In 2020, the executive board's base salary basically remained unchanged. We made minor adjustments, but primarily to our long-term incentive program.
This is in line with our wish to increase the variable element of our remuneration system, which is becoming increasingly relevant as we reduce the degree of volatility in the company's earnings. I would like to thank the shareholders for supporting this initiative. As I also mentioned last year, the remuneration paid to the executive board may seem high from a Danish perspective. We obviously conduct regular benchmarking, which confirms that our remuneration is appropriate, but without being the highest paying company. In this context, we take into account the size and complexity of A.P. Møller - Mærsk. The fact that the executive board received relatively more pay in 2020 compared to 2019, it is because of the higher bonus payments due to the very strong financial results in 2020. This is a good sign. It shows that the new remuneration system works.
There's a clear correlation between value creation for the shareholders and remuneration paid to the executive board. We will assess whether and how we can incorporate ESG elements in our remuneration system in future. This will create an even closer correlation between the total amount paid to the executive board and our value creation, not just for shareholders, but for all stakeholders. Remuneration paid to the board of directors remains unchanged in 2020. During a period when big changes are being rolled out, the board of directors plays a particularly important and very active role. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the board of directors for all their hard work and their loyalty to the company.
The transformation since 2016, where we have moved from being a so-called conglomerate board, i.e., a board which oversees investments and yields in different companies, to a board of directors of an operational and rapidly changing company, has resulted in new demands on the board and its composition. Today, Dorothee Blessing is not standing for re-election, and we are nominating Amparo Moraleda for election as a new member of the board. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dorothee Blessing for all her hard work on the board in all the years she's been a member. We will miss your experience and great commitment. I hope that after the AGM, I will be able to welcome Amparo to the board of directors. Amparo has a background in engineering and possesses strong skills within digitalization and sustainability. On the agenda today, we have amendments to the articles of association.
We suggest that as the digital options increase, we reflect these accordingly in our articles of association. In our objects clause to ensure that our digital activities are within our objects. With the addition to enable electronic general meetings. We appreciate being able to meet our shareholders in person as far as it is possible. The amendment to the articles of association is merely for situation where it is not possible. The few cosmetic editorial amendments, which the chairman will go through under that item. In 2016, our goal was that we would be as big as we were before the energy companies were divested and just as diversified. In 2020, we achieved this on several points. We are not stopping here. We will continue our journey towards becoming the leading container transport and logistics company in the world. We are on the right course.
All that is basically required now is to accelerate the pace of development. Our expectations for 2021 remain unchanged. We expect to post an EBITDA between $8.5 billion and $10.5 billion compared to $8.3 billion in 2020. This equates to an EBIT of between $4.3 billion and $6.3 billion compared to $4.2 billion in 2020. Finally, we expect free cash flows of at least $3.5 billion compared to $4.6 billion in 2020. This is primarily due to increased investment. In addition to the financial targets, we are continuing to measure our progress at transforming the business. In 2020 and 2021, in particular, where the effect of COVID-19 is difficult to predict, it is important to have metrics which show whether we are becoming better at conducting what will be our future business.
These transformation metrics will make it possible to track our progress over the next few years, regardless of freight rates. We continue to monitor our overall ability to create value for our shareholders in the form of return on invested capital, the ROIC. While our focus in the various segments will be on growth and profitability in logistics and services, as well as growth in our port business. By growing these business areas on both the top line and the bottom line, we achieve a more stable business model with a higher return. Moreover, we will measure whether we are successfully expanding our collaboration with our biggest customers in Ocean by offering them more and better logistics and services. Finally, we will measure whether we are managing to change the basic conditions in Ocean, where the growth in Mærsk Spot is a good metric.
Sustainability remains a key goal based on our company's core values and the responsibility we bear as the world's largest container shipping company. However, climate action is also a strategic necessity. We are sensing growing levels of interest and increased expectations from all our stakeholders, not least customers, investors, and employees. We took the lead with carbon neutral transport back in 2018 when we announced our ambition of zero carbon emissions from our ocean activities in 2050, and having the first carbon neutral ships in 2030. Since then, we have accelerated our ambition, and we are now planning to introduce our first carbon neutral container ship in early 2023, i.e., seven years earlier than first thought. We are leading the way in our industry, and we see this both as an obligation, as an opportunity to take the lead in moving towards a carbon neutral fleet as soon as possible.
In 2020, our majority shareholder, the A.P. Møller Foundation, established the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, where we are playing a very active role together with several other leading players from a number of different industries. We are very grateful for this opportunity, which the foundation has given us and the industry to develop the energy systems and fuel technologies of the future. Safety is also an important focus area. Despite significant initiatives, we tragically lost a colleague in 2020. Although it's an improvement compared to previous years, it is still one life too much lost. It is crucial that our employees can go to work safely and return home safely at the end of the working day. In 2020, we therefore introduced new stricter procedures to further improve the way in which we handle the risks involved.
We will not be satisfied until we have achieved our ambition of eliminating serious and fatal accidents altogether. In addition to our focus on carbon neutral transport and safety, we are continuing our work within the other sustainability areas, including reducing food waste, recycling ships, and improving world trade. Our work on sustainability is described in detail in our sustainability report, which is available on our website. Please allow me to conclude by expressing my gratitude. Thank you to all employees, especially for your unwavering and exceptional way in which you are handling COVID-19, but also for your readiness to accept change, changes which have been brought about by a changed world, and changes which have been brought about by our own adjustments to the business in order to reinvent it. Thank you to the executive board for successfully delivering results and transforming the organization at the same time.
It's not easy, especially when faced by such difficult market conditions. Thank you also to our shareholders for your continued support for the ambitious transformation we initiated in 2016. It allowed us to make the difficult decisions and to focus on the long-term strategy, which is crucial when reinventing such a large company. I would like to conclude with a very special thank you to our colleagues at sea, as well as to our colleagues based at our warehouses and ports. It is you, in particular, who have kept the wheels of world trade turning and ensured vital supplies such as foods and medicine in a world where almost everything else has been in lockdown. We are immensely proud of all that you have done. Thank you. 2020 will be remembered for a long time, not least because of COVID-19. In A.P.
Møller - Mærsk, 2020 will also be remembered as the year in which the transformation process really took effect. According to many key numbers, 2020 was A.P. Møller - Mærsk showed its true strength. We hope that the world will soon have the pandemic under control so that everything can open up again. A world which must not simply revert to how things were pre-COVID-19, but one in which developments can be accelerated towards a more sustainable future with greater robustness and flexibility in global trade. We are ready to play our part in this development. With this, I will conclude my report and hand back to the chair.
Thank you to the chairman of the board for his report for 2020, the submission of the annual report for 2020, the presentation of the proposal on appropriation of profit, and the presentation of the remuneration report. Before I open the floor to debate, I need to inform you that the annual report has been signed by the board of directors and the executive board, and that there is an unqualified auditor's report. If you would like to see it, you can turn to page 136- 140 in the annual report for 2020. As the chairman mentioned in his report, the board of directors proposes that the company, out of the profit of the year, pays out a dividend of DKK 330 per share of nominally DKK 1,000, corresponding to a total of DKK 6.6 billion, or $1.01 billion.
I now open the floor to debate, and I remind you that there's a slight delay in the transmission. It has been measured to about 20 seconds, and we will take that into account and slow down a bit, not because we have lost our bearings, but just to wait for any incoming questions or remarks. Again, I remind you that it's a good idea to let us know if you're writing any comments or questions. Just write briefly, "Question coming." Please do so as soon as you know that you're going to ask the question. You can also start writing your questions for other items on the agenda. We will then raise your questions or comments when we get to the corresponding item on the agenda. Now, I would like to introduce what we here at this electronic AGM will call the voice of the shareholder.
The voice of the shareholder will read out loud the comments and questions received from the shareholders. Comments and questions are read out loud as they have been written, and the voice of the shareholder will therefore reflect the words of our shareholders. This is our small way of mitigating the fact that our shareholders can only take the floor in writing. Today, Kristoffer Meinert who is an employee A.P. Møller - Mærsk, will be the voice and the face of the voice of the shareholder. I hope you Welcome this way of conducting the debate and welcome Kristoffer Meinert as the voice of the shareholder. I now open the floor for the debate, and I inform you that we have already received four comments.
The first one is from the pension fund AkademikerPension and others. I give the floor to the voice of the shareholder who will read out loud this comment from the pension fund, AkademikerPension.
This speech is not just given on behalf of AkademikerPension, but also on behalf of LD Fonde and Climate Action 100+. Climate Action 100+ includes 545 investors administrating more than DKK 320,000 billion. All in all, Climate Action 100+ is in an ongoing dialogue with the companies in the world who emit the most greenhouse gases. We've had a good dialogue with Mærsk. Our last meeting was just two weeks ago. In general, we are very satisfied shareholders looking at the business in the current financial perspective. The last year saw new and unknown challenges for all of us.
Mærsk has reacted swiftly to a very volatile market and has strengthened earnings significantly. Well done. At the same time, Mærsk has taken steps toward a more sustainable future. We are glad to see some action behind the words, and Mærsk is taking the role as a market leader seriously. It is not new for us to see that Mærsk is looking at the climate agenda in a strategic perspective. Therefore, it's not surprising for us that the strategy the global integrator takes on this subject, concepts like end-to-end logistics and end-to-end sustainability, reflect an integrated approach that is rarely seen. You think in potential and not just limitation, and it's encouraging to see how Mærsk is taking responsibility in the entire value chain. We fully support the target of eliminating the emission of greenhouse gases towards 2050.
We are aware that the strategy contains a challenging technological development and systemic transitions. We look forward to Mærsk putting the first CO2 neutral methanol-driven ship into operation in 2023. We also look forward to Mærsk's coming short and medium-term targets, which will be in line with the targets of the Paris Agreement. Climate Action 100+ is about to publish a net zero company benchmark. This is a benchmark scoring Mærsk and other global companies on 10 indicators. The goal is to promote a managerial approach to climate change containing three main elements, an overall mission and ambitions, targets and practice that are in line with the Paris Agreement, and finally, reporting and thereby transparency. Mærsk will no doubt gain a positive position in that benchmark. There will still be room for improvement, which is also reflecting in the existing plans of the company.
On behalf of the investors in Climate Action 100+, and not least EOS at Federated Hermes, we would like to thank Mærsk for the good dialogue so far. We have witnessed a considerable effort, and we look forward to continuing this dialogue. When it comes to the integration of sustainability in management, in general, it will, for Mærsk, always be a work in progress. That goes for the size of the company, the market, and the general context in which they operate. Everything is moving very fast. Finally, we have a brief comment as regards the remuneration of the company, and this is solely on behalf of AkademikerPension and LD Fonde. Legislation, when it comes to remuneration policies and reports, have been strengthened recently. This has led to tightening in the provisions of Danish companies, and that has given us a new point of departure as investors.
We need clarity from policies and reports. It is important to see the connection between the achievement of targets and payouts. Reading the remuneration report, we get a good insight into the short-term bonus payout, while for the long-term incentive plan, it's difficult to understand the basis for the allocation of bonuses. Another aspect is the size of the payouts. Mærsk is very highly placed in a Danish perspective when it comes to the CEO as well as the chairman of the board. Mærsk is one of the world's biggest shipping companies, and of course, management should be paid well for a job well done. We do believe that the remuneration level is too high in this case. We would like to urge Mærsk to follow ordinary practice and put the remuneration of the board to a vote as a separate item.
On this basis, we vote against the remuneration report. Thank you for attention.
Thank you to AkademikerPension. I will give the floor to the chairman of the board for a reply, then to CFO Søren Skou, who will comment on the sustainability.
Thank you very much. Thank you to AkademikerPension, LD Fonde, and Climate Action 100+ for their comments. Thank you for the acknowledgment when it comes to our strategy and our handling of COVID-19. We're glad that our shareholders support our transformation and confirm that we have come a long way. I would like to thank you for your support for our ambitious plans when it comes to CO2 neutrality.
After my reply, I will give the floor to Søren Skou to comment on our plans for the cooperation with Climate Action 100+. As regards the part of your comments to do with remuneration, I'm of course happy that our remuneration report give you some important insight into the short-term payouts. When it comes to the long-term part of remuneration, this is solely based on a fixed amount, which is not paid out, but given in the form of restricted shares and share options. Thus, the value is solely based on the development of the share price. This is to create a mutual correlation between value creation for our shareholders and the remuneration of management. As mentioned, we are considering including ESG elements in the remuneration system, which will also include value creation for other stakeholders, including the climate.
In this connection, we will make sure we have the sufficient transparency, also when it comes to the long-term remuneration. The remuneration policy for the executive board and the board of directors was adopted at last year's AGM. When it comes to the remuneration of the board, there has not been any changes in 2020. In fact, the remuneration for the board has not been significantly changed over the past 13 years. On the other hand, we have seen a huge effort from the board in connection with this very ambition transformation. I will now pass the floor to Søren Skou.
Thank you. First of all, I would like to thank you for the good cooperation with Climate Action 100+. I can promise you that we will continue to work on improving our situation and our efforts in this area, in order to achieve a better position on your index. The A.P. Møller - Mærsk is also to do with sustainability.
As the chairman has said several times, our target is to reduce our CO2 emissions. That is a strategic goal for us. In 2016, when we set out this transformation, we had a business model very much based on oil. We drilled for oil, we produced oil, we transported oil, we sold oil, and we used oil in our container shipping business. Today, our energy business is no longer with us, we are determined to reach our targets of zero emissions from the business we have today, our global logistics and transport business.
We are convinced that we will reach these targets, and we are working hard to do so already. We expect that by the end of this year, we will be able to publish new and even more ambitious goals. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Thank you to the chair, and thank you to Søren Skou for their replies for these questions from AkademikerPension. The next comment we have received is from the Association of Danish Shareholders, and I give the floor to the voice of the shareholder.
Thank you to the board for a good report. From the Association of Danish Shareholders, we appreciate that in spite of COVID-19, you maintain shareholder democracy, reading out comments and replying A.P. Møller - Mærsk has for years been a popular share among private Danish investors.
With the company's strength and market position and the increasing interest in investing in shares among Danish private investors, we think there's a potential for developing the relation with private investors even more. It's important to develop and strengthen the close dialogue, also outside of the AGM, with the many Danish investors, so that they can get to know the qualities of the company. 2020 was heavily impacted by COVID-19. We would like to praise the management and their employees around the world for handling the many changes of the year in a very professional manner. Your efforts make shareholders, but no doubt also many ordinary Danes, proud, thinking of the visibility that your company enjoys all over the world. One of the focus areas of the Association of Danish Shareholders is about good guidance in new and uncertain times.
After navigating safely through a difficult 2020 with good results, we are tempted to ask how concrete the expectations that you have published are within an EBITDA of between $8.5 billion and $10.5 billion, including whether your growth ambitions could perhaps be even higher. Can you elaborate on your ambitions for 2021 and tell us what it would take for you to land in the upper part of this margin, and perhaps even exceed it? Another one of our focus areas is succession. That is, the development of new, good internal candidates for management who are ready when you need them. Can you elaborate on the way in which you ensure diversity and development of new, strong candidates for executive management in the coming years?
In 2020, we saw an increase of the share price of 45%. At the same time, the company has paid out a solid dividend, so private shareholders have every reason to be satisfied, not least in light of the fact that the share price had been at a standstill for years until then. The annual report primarily focuses on the coming year and not much on the long-term perspectives.
Therefore, we would like to ask you where A.P. Møller - Mærsk in 5- 10 years. Where in the value chain do you expect the greatest earnings, and do you expect to bet on new markets or new categories, or do you want to compete more intensely with existing operators on the ground to become the customer's end-to-end supplier? Finally, I wish you the best of luck for 2021.
Thank you very much to the Association of Danish Shareholders.
There are a number of questions that will be answered by the chairman of the board.
Thank you very much, and thank you for the acknowledgement of our handling and our efforts in relation to COVID-19. I will pass your praise on to our executive board and to our employees, who have really been working hard throughout the year to service our customers and keep supply chains going. When it comes to the dialogue with the shareholders, it's important that we maintain a close dialogue. We would prefer to do so through a physical AGM, which was unfortunately not possible this year, but we do hope that we can meet in person next year. When it comes to our guidance for the entire year of 2021, it's important to underline the uncertainty that relates to getting out of a pandemic like COVID-19.
No one has done it before. We expect the high freight rates to continue throughout the beginning of the year, and to see a normalization later in the year. However, there is no way of knowing when that will happen and how the consumption of goods will change, once the world opens again. Therefore, our guidance is a bit broader than usual. With our so-called transformation target, you can still keep track of the progress in our transformation, no matter how the freight rates will develop. Diversity is also an important focus A.P. Møller - Mærsk. Traditionally, however, the shipping industry has been very much a man's world. We have long focused on increasing the share of women at all levels in our organization, and we have seen some progress, but we do want to accelerate this development further.
For 2021, our target for the share of women in Executive Management is 20%, with an increase to 30% by 2025. Of course, these targets are supported by action plans, which all members of Executive Management have committed to complying with these action plans. We also work very much with succession planning at all levels. In that way, we try to make sure that we promote our good managers throughout the organization, also the female ones. I'm very happy that we have had success for years when it comes to attracting strong women for our Board. With today's nomination of Amparo , we maintain our share of 30% women in our Board of Directors. You also asked about our future value creation and where our growth and earnings are to come from in five to 10 years.
Here, it is obvious that our logistics and services business will play an important role. All of the three pillars in our business are important, as well as the synergies between them. As I mentioned in my report, our strategy aims at growing our logistics and services business significantly. That gives us strategic customer relations, increased profitability, and a reduced dependency on freight rates. For the future and in the long term, we would like to achieve that 50% of our earnings comes from logistics services and the terminal business, and thereby reducing our dependency on the freight rates in ocean. In the long term, earnings here are better than in ocean, and that would also give us a better and more stable level for our earnings.
In a 10-year perspective, while it's difficult to guess and make any firm decisions on that long term, but I'm sure that digitalization of the paperwork in the business will be a big part of our business, and that we will continue to develop leading platforms in the digital area.
Thank you to the Chairman for this answer for the Association of Danish Shareholders. The next comment is from ATP. I'll give the floor to the voice of the shareholder.
Good afternoon, Mærsk. 2020 has been a very special A.P. Møller - Mærsk because of the COVID crisis. In April and May, few people would have guessed that 2020 would be a record year for a container shipping company. It was, because of increasing freight rates, record revenue, and a strong cash flow. There are also other things to be happy about. If we disregard the uncertainty in the spring of 2020, where guidance was suspended, we have seen a company which, to a higher degree than earlier, has lived up to the guidance. To me, that is a good indicator that there's been a quality improvement in the A.P. Møller - Mærsk, which goes beyond the effect of increasing rates. We have a stronger basic business now, I think.
We're happy to see that the logistics segment is on the right track with growth and improved revenue in the past quarters. I think the strategy of synergies between ocean terminals and logistics is the right one, and in the long term, it can create a more stable business with a higher revenue, even though there's still some way to go. We have to expect the freight rates to normalize at some point. Mærsk needs to show that revenue can be maintained at a higher level than previously. We need continued improvement of profitability in terminals and increased high growth in logistics, both organically and through acquisitions. Last but not least, it's vital that there's a visible synergy between the three business areas. On investments, I fully support the line put down by Mærsk.
Being conservative in investing in new ships and terminals, and at the same time investing in logistics, is the right long-term strategy. High revenue and clear capital management means that we have a strong cash flow and only net bank debt close to zero, and only leasing obligations. It's a strong point of departure, but also emphasizes that we need to look at the optimal capital structure. A debt-free A.P. Møller - Mærsk is probably not the right capital structure in a low interest rate environment like the current. I look forward to the upcoming capital market day to hear more about the outlook for ocean and the interaction with other business areas. I would like to commend A.P. Møller - Mærsk on their work in reducing CO2 emissions.
Container shipping by its nature has a high emission, so it's important and positive that Mærsk works actively with ambitious long-term targets for the reduction in CO2 emissions. As a comment for the remuneration report, ATP has decided to vote against the remuneration report because now we think it's too high a fee for the chairman of the board. When we look at the size of fees for members of the board of directors, it's important to look at whether it's a one-tier governance structure or Nordic countries with a two-tier governance structure. We don't look to Anglo-Saxon countries where the fees are typically higher when we compare. We think that the fee for the chairman of the board is extraordinarily high, and therefore, we have decided to vote against the remuneration report. I want to emphasize that this is a matter of principle.
It is by no means a criticism of the work done by the chairman of the A.P. Møller - Mærsk. We hold the chairman in very high regard and also appreciate the roles he plays in the transformation of the company. Thank you.
Thank you to ATP. I give the floor to the chairman of the board to answer.
Thank you. Thank you to Claus Wiinblad for his comments. Thank you for the very positive comments about strategy and progress. It is very reaffirming to be recognized for delivering on expectations, and we are happy that you see the improvements in revenue and the clear signs that both the terminal and logistics segment is on the right track. You also mentioned the importance of synergies. We quite agree with that, as was also made clear in my report.
Our transformation goals for 2021 will enable us to achieve these synergies. When it comes to investments, we will increase our investments generally, especially in logistics, where we will also make acquisitions. We are very aware of the fact that we need to invest in the right opportunities that create profitable growth. The question of A.P. Møller - Mærsk is a positive challenge, and we can confirm that at the upcoming Capital Market Day, we will address our strategic development, including the capital structure going forward. The remuneration policy for the executive board and the board of directors was adopted on last year's AGM. When it comes to the fees for the board of directors, there have not been any changes in 2020. Finally, thank you for commending us on the work to reduce CO2 emissions.
We are working hard in this area, and we are very happy that that is noticed also by the investors. Thank you.
Thank you to the chairman of the board for this response. This brings us to the last intervention, which has been sent in beforehand, and it comes from the International Transport Workers' Federation, ITF. I give the floor to the voice of the shareholder. I want to mention that the intervention is in English, but we have interpretation into Danish. With that, I give the floor to ITF.
We welcome the chance to make a brief statement to the Mærsk annual general meeting. To begin, we would like to recognize the many initiatives taken by Mærsk throughout the COVID-19 crisis that prioritized the welfare of its seafarers. Booking hotel rooms in Mumbai and Manila, where seafarers could quarantine and receive health checks, chartering flights, and facilitating ship transfers. The industry is now faced with the rollout of vaccinations, the continued efforts by Mærsk to find a way that keeps the industry moving and seafarers' welfare protected will be very much valued. However, it is imperative that Mærsk support for maritime workers does not end with this crisis and is extended to workers throughout the supply chain. We therefore call on Mærsk Line to reconsider operations with the Melbourne Port, Victoria International Container Terminal, VICT.
Low employment standards at the VICT have necessitated the ITF to declare the terminal as a port of convenience, as it is not meeting normal standards applicable in Australia. When the responsible employers of the maritime industry are working together to get through the Covid-19 crisis, this situation is a source of major regret. We note that the Mærsk Code of Conduct on suppliers, there is a requirement that suppliers stick to internationally recognized labor standards, respect collective bargaining and industry standards. The ITF also requests that the equal and fair treatment of workers extend to workers contracted by two APM Terminals. On a more positive note, we are pleased that progress is being made in Latin America following some difficulties we have previously raised. We also look forward to working with APM Terminals on the recently developed vessel inspection app.
As Mærsk emerge from the crisis with steady business growth, we hope that we can depend on the company to show responsibility for all its workers in the extended supply chain, at sea and at shore.
Thank you for those comments from ITF. I give the floor to Søren Skou, who will answer in Danish.
Yes, thank you. I want to thank ITF for the comments and commend ITF for good and constructive collaboration in 2020. It was very high on our agenda last year to ensure that global supply chains remained functional despite Covid-19. We quickly realized that the most difficult bottleneck was found in the movement of seafarers between home and vessels, and vice versa. There were restrictions in ports and at national borders, in combination with canceled flights. That meant that we could not conduct the crew changes as had been planned. Many seafarers had to stay away for too long on ships in operation. That situation quickly became critical.
Together with other important industry stakeholders like ITF, we managed to alert political decision-makers to the fact that seafarers are essential for world trade, and that the crew change situation had to be improved if we were also to get on top of the pandemic issue. We share the view that seafarers should be given priority access to Covid-19 vaccinations. In 2020, ITF and Mærsk were among the signatories to the Neptune Declaration for this purpose, and this effort continues in 2021. As regards the Victoria International Container Terminal in Melbourne, I want to emphasize it's not owned or A.P. Møller - Mærsk. We're only a customer at that terminal, and we have to recognize that a negotiated enterprise agreement exists with an officially recognized union in Australia, although not the Maritime Union of Australia, which is supported by ITF.
The terms of employment may well differ from the agreements entered into by the Maritime Union of Australia. We have not found evidence of violations of our labor standards at VICT. We share the view expressed by ITF that contracted labor must be treated fairly and with respect on a par with our own employees. Our supplier code of conduct also applies to contracted labor, which also means respect for working hours and remuneration. However, we cannot demand or guarantee that all our collaborators give the same rights to all employees. I also want to emphasize that we very much appreciate the progress we've made in Latin America. I want to thank the ITF for a good collaboration.
Thank you, Søren Skou, for that response. The group tax payments means that there is a proposal from Mr. Frank Aaen .
The proposal was that the company had to publish the actual tax payments in the countries in which the company operates. This has, however, already been adopted, so this proposal is in line with the actual practice. This approach has been communicated in the sustainability report for 2019 in order to contribute to greater transparency when it comes to the tax payment in the countries in which the company operates, as it will also be the case for the tax payments in 2020. As informed in the sustainability report for 2020, these numbers will soon be published on the company's website. These tax payments are calculated on the basis of the guidelines of OECD and in line with the so-called country by country principle.
These were the questions and comments we had received prior to the AGM, and we will now embark upon the comments we have received during the AGM. I have a comment from Ole Skou, and I give the floor to him through the voice of the shareholder. The availability of containers from China to the U.S. has been disturbed significantly during the past six months, but it is normalizing. I have to say that this question of when this will be normalized
Will be answered by Søren Skou.
Of course, there's a great uncertainty about this, but our expectation right now is that we will see a normalization of the situation during the course of the summer this year. When I say that this is with a certain insecurity, it's due to the large aid packages adopted by governments around the world, including in the U.S. We, of course, expect that this will lead to more goods being transported, but we have not yet seen the effects of the packages adopted by, for instance, the European Parliament last year. Of course, there are many factors that contribute to this uncertainty. What our expectation is during the summer of this year.
Thank you to Søren Skou for replying to the question from Ole Skou. I have not received any indication that anyone else has asked for the floor.
This is the last chance to take the floor at this item of the agenda. That is not the case. I see no further indication, and thereby we have exhausted item A to E. Thank you to all of you, and thank you also to the voice of the shareholder, Kristoffer Meinert . As I've said before, the company has received a large amount of proxies and postal votes, and that means that I can conclude that there is more than 80% in favor for these items. I can therefore conclude that the AGM has taken note of the report, adopted the annual report for 2020, granted discharge for the Board of Directors and Executive Board, adopted the appropriation of profit, and approved the remuneration report for 2020, and that will appear from the minutes.
That means that we have exhausted item A to E of our agenda, and we will move on to items F to I. Again, I remind you that there is a 20-second delay in the transmission, and again, I urge you to send in your questions or comments as soon as possible, and preferably before we get to the corresponding item on the agenda. The next item on the agenda is item F, a resolution on authority to acquire own shares. More specifically, the board of directors proposes that the board is authorized to acquire own shares so that the company can regulate or adjust the capital structure of the company to achieve the right balance between the company's own capital and debt capital.
As the current authorization expires on the 30th of April, 2021, the board of directors proposes a new authorization to allow the company to acquire own shares. The authorization is limited to the extent that the nominal value of the company's total holding of own shares at no time exceeds 15% of the company's share capital. The purchase price must not deviate by more than 10% from the price quoted on Nasdaq on the date of the acquisition. The authorization shall be in force until the 30th of April, 2023. Let me ask if anyone wishes to take the floor for this item on the agenda. Please make yourselves known immediately. I can inform you that the adoption requires a simple majority. I have not received any indication that any shareholders want to take the floor, and I can therefore conclude that the proposal has been adopted.
That is not controversial in the light of the many proxies and postal votes received by the board. The next item on the agenda is item G, any requisite election of members for the board. In line with Article three in the articles of association, the members of the board is elected for two years at a time. That means that Dorothee Blessing, Bernard L. Bot, Marc Engel, and Arne Karlsson stand down as members of the board this year. The board of directors proposes re-election of Arne Karlsson, Marc Engel, and Bernard L. Bot. I now give the floor to the Chairman of the Board to motivate this proposal.
Thank you very much. We have a competent and very active board of directors that has been adjusted throughout the past years in a line with our transformation, and we therefore propose re-election of Bernard L. Bot, Marc Engel, and Arne Karlsson. Based on the evaluation of the board and the overall skills and competencies of the board, the nomination committee has nominated, and the board of directors has unanimously nominated Amparo Moraleda for election as a new member of the board. As it appears in our nomination, Amparo Moraleda has experience from boards in international listed companies within the areas of technology, chemistry, airlines, transportation, the car industry, and innovation companies, as well as the financial sector. With her background as an engineer, Amparo Moraleda will contribute to the board with a strong skill set within digitization and sustainability.
With Amparo on board and with the proposed re-elections, we will be well prepared in the board of directors to pursue our strategy. Amparo Moraleda is seen as an independent member of the board.
Thank you to the chairman of the board for this motivation. Let me ask if there are any other candidates or anyone who wishes to take the floor to this item on the agenda. While you consider that, I can tell you that information about the executive functions of the candidates appear from the list of candidates sent out with the notice convening the AGM, which contains a description of the candidates' skills, qualifications, and executive functions. I have not received any indications of any other candidates, I can therefore conclude that Bernard L. Bot, Marc Engel, and Arne Karlsson have been reelected, while Amparo Moraleda has been elected for the board. Congratulations. The board of directors now consists of Jim Hagemann Snabe, Ane Mærsk Mc-Kinney Uggla, Robert Mærsk Uggla, Amparo Moraleda, Arne Karlsson, Blythe Masters, Thomas Lindegaard Madsen, Marc Engel, and Bernard L. Bot.
Bernard L. Bot and Jacob Andersen Sterling. That leads me to the next item on the agenda, item H, election of auditors. In accordance with Article Seven in the Articles of Association, the auditor is elected for one year at a time. The board of directors proposes reelection of PricewaterhouseCoopers. I want to ask whether there are any other candidates, or whether anyone wants the floor for this item on the agenda. While you write about that, I can mention that this is pursuant to the audit committee's recommendation. The audit committee has not been influenced by third parties and has not been subject to any agreement with a third party, which limits the general meeting's election of auditors. I haven't seen any indication that anyone has a comment or has any other candidates. PricewaterhouseCoopers has been reelected as the company's auditor.
That brings us to the last item on the agenda, which is item I, deliberation of any proposals submitted by the board of directors or shareholders. This year, there are four separate proposals from the board of directors. I1, which is to declare extraordinary dividends, two, decrease the share capital, three, amending some of the articles of association, and four, being able to have completely electronic general meetings. I1 is a proposal for the company's board to be authorized until the next general meeting to declare extraordinary dividend to the company's shareholders. This authorization is a good tool which ensures that the board of directors has the greatest possible flexibility in planning the company's payout of dividends and the capital structure in general. I want to ask whether anybody wants the floor to this proposal. Such a proposal just requires a simple majority in order to be adopted.
I haven't received any indication that anyone will want the floor to this. On that basis, I conclude that the proposal has been adopted. Again, I refer to the postal votes and proxies, which have been received by the board of directors. That brings us to I2, which is the proposal to decrease the share capital. As announced in the company announcement earlier in November 2020, there's a buyback program, and in that context, it is proposed that the share capital is reduced by annulling some of the shares, the canceling A and B shares. I refer to the convening notice here. If I can briefly mention that the proposal is to cancel 130,186 A shares and 524,745 B shares. The capital decrease will take place at a premium rate of DKK 757.32 and DKK 812.56 for the A and B shares respectively. This is at a premium.
This is corresponding to the average price at which the shares have been repurchased. The amount from the capital decrease will be paid out to the company as a owner of the shares. After the buyback, the nominal price will be DKK 19 billion plus. I have not received any indication that anybody wants the floor under this item. Like under the previous item, I will conclude that the proposal has been adopted, and again, I point to the received proxies and postal votes. That brings us to item I3, which is the proposal for a number of changes to the articles of association. There are four proposed changes, and you can see the full wording in the convening notice. We will cover all four changes as one. We will have the debate as one.
The four proposals are: a change to the object in the articles of association to reflect that the company now also has digital solutions. The chairman of the board also mentioned this in his report. It also means that the objectives are simplified, so there's no longer a reference to several different names of the company. Under Article 3, we'll also delete that the directors shall be holders of A shares. This is because that requirement now appears from the company's remuneration policy, which has been approved by the general meeting already. The third change is a change in the Danish version of the articles of association, where there are two different words for the English word decision, which will be changed in the Danish version only.
The fourth proposal to delete Article 15.4, which is no longer relevant as it now follows from the Danish Companies Act. Do you have any comments for these changes to the articles of association? Again, we need two thirds majority here for it to be adopted. Nobody has asked for the floor. Of course, I'm slowing down to see whether there are any questions pending, but I don't believe that is the case, so I consider the proposals adopted, and again, I refer to the proxies and postal votes. The last proposal from the Board of Directors is I4, which is to authorize the Board of Directors to decide that a general meeting can be held completely electronically. The proposed insert is that the company's general meetings can be held completely electronic without any physical attendance, in accordance with Section 77, subsection 2 in the Danish Companies Act.
It would mean a new Article 9 (3) in the articles of association, as you can see from the convening notice. I open the floor for any comments or questions. In the meantime, I can say that this is a proposal from the board of directors to ensure the greatest possible flexibility in conducting the general meeting. I also want to mention, as mentioned by the chairman in his report, that the board of directors looks forward to meeting shareholders again in person at future general meetings. Again, we need a two-thirds majority for this proposal to be approved, and I'm asking whether anyone wants the floor. Nobody has sent any warning that there's a comment pending. I take the liberty to conclude that this has also been adopted.
Right.
That leads me to the end of the agenda, and I would just like to ask whether anyone wants to take the floor here under any other business regarding the company. That is the last chance to take the floor. So far, I see no indications. This is the last chance to take the floor today. I can now conclude that no one wants to take the floor. Thereby, I can say that the agenda has been exhausted, and all that there is left for me is to resign as chairman of the annual general meeting. I thank you for this good development of this first electronic annual general assembly, and I pass the floor back to the chairman of the board for his final remarks.
Thank you very much, thank you to Niels Kornerup for leading us safely through today's AGM. I must say that is a very different way of conducting the AGM than in the Opera, but you did it in a very convincing manner as always, and we got through it all safely. To you, our dear shareholders, I know it is not the same as meeting in person. Still, I would like to thank you for your support for A.P. Møller - Mærsk and for our ambitious transformation. Also thank you for participating in our virtual annual general meeting today. Also, thank you to our team, who very skillfully has made this virtual AGM possible. This year's annual general meeting has now come to an end.
While we have been gathered here in our virtual universe for about two hours, our colleagues around the world have been hard at work servicing our customers. About 20 Mærsk ships have called at a port somewhere in the world. Our terminals have lifted about 2,600 containers, and about 40,000 transactions have taken place at the maersk.com platform. We continue to keep world trade going. I hope that the world will get a good grip on this pandemic so that we can meet again as we normally do the 15th of March next year. Until then, I wish you all good health. Thank you for attending.