A life in Customs

Maersk’s head of trade and customs on facing supply chain disruptions head-on, the value of owning data, and why some trade documents need to go.

Read this ikterview article from the Global Trade Review (GTR) by Maria Goncalves 👇🏻.

Lars Karlsson wasn’t meant to be in trade.

The now-head of trade and customs at one of the world’s largest logistics and shipping companies, Maersk – and a leading voice in the international trade community – was supposed to have become a professional handball player.

”“Even when global tariffs were low, companies often overpaid 5-6% because they didn’t understand the rules. That’s leaving money on the table.”

Having grown up in Sweden playing the sport, Karlsson was taking it more seriously by the time he got to university, where he studied IT. But between classes, his mother insisted that it was “a good idea that I made some money, so she suggested I get a job at the local customs facility”, he recalls fondly. “It’s still the only job I ever applied for!”

Being a customs officer was only “supposed to be a temporary job”, but something “clearly clicked” for him. Karlsson worked his way up the Swedish customs ranks, eventually becoming director general in the early aughts.

Read the entire article: Here