“Amazon is a threat if we don’t do a good job for them,” Soren Skou, the CEO of A.P. Moller Maersk A/S, said in a phone interview. “If we don’t do our job well, then there’s no doubt that big, strong companies like Amazon will look into whether they can do better themselves.”

Shares of FedEx Corp. and UPS Inc. dropped last week on a report that Amazon plans to handle more deliveries to its customers’ doorsteps. The question the maritime industry is now asking itself is to what extent the online retailer will also try to take greater control of transportation of shipments bound for Amazon warehouses. For now, those tend to be handled by Maersk and companies like it.

Taking greater control of shipments would give Seattle-based Amazon more flexibility and help it avoid possible congestion in its warehouses.

Skou is betting his strategy of combining the Maersk conglomerate’s container activities — including a shipping line, a port operator and a freight-forwarding service provider — will offer Amazon and others like it the integrated supply chain they need.

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