The panamax ships are the Sea Land Lightning, Sea Land Charger, Sea Land Intrepid, Sea Land Comet, Sea Land Eagle, Sea Land Racer, Sea Land Meteor and Sea Land Mercury.
"This is a small but meaningful capacity reduction, which will contribute to achieving a better balance between supply and demand for Maersk Line," said Maersk Line chief operating officer Sven Toft.
Maersk said it expects to scrap more vessels than in previous years as more near their end of economic life. Four will be scrapped in India, four in China.
"With Maersk Line's fleet of more than 600 vessels, owned and chartered, any decision to recycle depends on a broad set of variables - not the least, the state of the market," the company said.
Complaining NGO Shipbreaking Platform "called on the Danish government to ensure that Maersk's end-of-life vessels cannot be broken down in beaching yards".