A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk)’s strong commitment toward Pakistani exporters is yielding solid results, as indicated by the growth in exports registered by Maersk in the first quarter of 2022 (1Q22).
After a slump in exports in 2021 due to the various challenges arising from the global pandemic, the local exporters have shipped almost 33 percent more containers out of the country between January and March this year on Maersk vessels compared to the same period last year.
Maersk’s efforts to ensure access to empty containers and space on vessels have made a real difference in the last quarter, the shipping group said in a statement.
Most of the growth contribution comes from the export of a variety of food items, refrigerated cargo, and high-value textiles and garments as Maersk makes more containers and vessel space available for Pakistani exporters.
The growth in exports has been across all types of exporters – the ones who have long-term contracts with Maersk, the ones who are booking their shipments in the short term, and the SMEs who are utilizing Maersk’s digital platforms such as Twill. Maersk Spot and Twill booking platforms have seen a rise of 57 percent in 1Q22 compared to the previous corresponding period.
Hasan Faraz, managing director, Maersk Pakistan said: “Through solutions such as Spot and Twill, we create a customer experience wherein the exporters can request quotes, book their shipment, get instant confirmations and track their cargo through easy-to-use mobile applications and platforms.
“Twill has truly been a game-changer for SMEs who don’t have the expertise in managing complex supply chains. We have teams hand-holding our customers throughout the process to simplify it so that our customers can focus on their core business.
“One of the biggest challenges our customers faced was the availability of containers and space on vessels. We understood their requirements and priorities through constant dialogue with our customers and could forecast the demand and supply equation more accurately in the current volatile market condition. This has helped us plan the movement of our containers effectively, thus making empty equipment available for the exporters to ship their cargo out to the global market.”
Maersk Pakistan head of Sales, Wajeeh Ahmed, said the firm has been working hard on ensuring that the Pakistani exporters get better access to containers, vessel space, and digital platforms and creating solutions through the various stages of their cargo’s journey.
With the creation of dedicated warehousing and distribution solutions for customers in the retail and pharmaceutical sectors, innovative cold chain logistics solutions for the meat and vegetable industry, and the offering of visibility and tracking solutions such as TradeLens, Maersk Pakistan is heavily investing in simplifying and connecting the complex supply chains for its customers, he added.
