Commenting on the achievement, recently appointed Managing Director for Maersk Line (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives and Bhutan), Mr Steve Felder said, ”In the past 18 months or so, we have expanded our horizon in various new commodity categories. India is at an exciting growth path and with our focus on adding value to the customer’s end to end cold chain, the commitment to support the growth of the trade is very strong and visible. Whether it’s a small local start-up planning big or a large multinational entering a new market, we enable trade and growth by being closer to your business and developing solutions to suit the specific needs of the cold segments.”
Maersk Line’s reefer services which are centered around its customers are aimed at simplifying the current supply chain, enabling global trade and helping economies to scale. These innovative service offerings help save transportation time between the point of origin and the port reduce considerably, facilitating a one-stop solution closer to the place of origin of cargo.
Maersk Line’s initiatives in a nutshell:
- First ever export of Kinnows from Sonepat, Haryana to Novorossiysk in Russia. This opened up a niche cargo category of shipping fresh produce to global markets. Maersk Line with its expertise and experience in handling temperature controlled cargo supported the addition of new commodity trades.
- Maersk Line processed its first-ever shipment of Bananas and Pomegranates from Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh to Dammam and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. March 2017 was marked by the successful shipment of the industry’s first ever consignment of fresh bananas and pomegranates from Krishnapatnam, Andhra Pradesh to Dammam and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The consignment set an example for the entire supply chain industry of sensitive cargo and opened doorways to new businesses.
- Debut shipment of papayas from Mangalore in Karnataka to Jebel Ali, UAE: Maersk Line continued to extend its services into the niche vertical of fresh fruits. This time with the papaya shipment. This was also the first fruit export reefer box from the port of Mangalore, opening another gateway for Indian fruit market.
- Enabled import of confectionery into Rudrapur, Uttarakhand- first for the industry The consignment of confectionery (gums) from Leixoes, Portugal to Rudrapur, Uttarakhand is an example of a cost-effective and simplified logistics solution. An innovative solution for importers in North India – enabling End to End transportation of Imports from the Port to ICDs to Consignee’s Warehouse, thus ensuring the quality of the perishable cargo through its world-class expertise.
- Maersk Line enabled import of fresh fruits into the NCR region: In August, Maersk Line enabled the import of the first ever consignment of fresh fruits for Dev Bhumi Cold Chain into the NCR region. The consignment of fresh fruits which left Durban on the 2nd of August reached Sonepat in NCR on the 22nd of August. Through this, the transportation time between the point of origin and the port reduce considerably and facilitated a one-stop solution closer to the place of origin of the cargo
- First ever consignment of groundnuts from Gujarat to Jebel Ali. In September 2017, Maersk’s reefers were used to close an order of groundnuts being transported out of Gujarat for Advait Agro. With India being the world's second-largest producer of groundnuts, this can be considered as a major development, which will open up this commodity for wider industrial applications. Maersk has been at the forefront in utilization and application of latest reefer technologies and RCM, adding tremendous value to the customers.
- Import of potatoes to Gujarat from Kuwait also goes to Maersk Line: Maersk Line partnered with Advait Agro for seamless store door movement of Potatoes. The significance of this event, that EXIMcustomers of fresh produce and vegetables face challenges with transportation vendors, expertise in handling reefers, and overall deficit in reliability, on-time services. Maersk Line’s “First Mile” service addressed these challenges in providing a single window supply chain solution which is highly cost-effective.
- Maersk Line, imported the first-ever consignment of frozen fruit juice to NCR, India. Maersk Line, lead the way in facilitating the first-ever import of frozen fruit juice in reefers into DICT Sonepat. Earlier, importers had to coordinate with multiple vendors and frequently faced with a shortage in availability of refrigerated trucks. These affected their overall logistics cost. Maersk Line aimed at minimizing these challenges by facilitating a one-stop solution closer to the place of origin of cargo. This helped to address the issues such as shortage of refrigerated trucks and transportation bottle-necks in the coming future.
Customer-centric policies are one of the core values of Maersk Line, Simplified modes of payments with convenient payment counters, Electronic Bill of Lading, Electronic Delivery Order, E-booking and Documentation. Adding to this, Maersk Line has introduced Industry leading services such as Detention Calculator, Online application for House Bill of Lading & CFS nomination, damage recovery limit, No container security fee on Import and no fee/deposit/bank guarantee for CFS nomination. These offerings, also an industry first, were centered on customers to provide viable logistical solutions to enable trade.
Maersk Line looks forward to further contribute towards simplifying trade in a cost-effective and time-saving manner. The team at Maersk Line is committed to creating a robust trade environment, in which Maersk’s Sustainable cold chain solutions will play a pivotal role.