Maersk Line named ‘Container Operator of the Year’ at the annual Lloyd’s List Asia awards
Maersk Line has been named ‘Container Operator of the Year’ at the annual Lloyd’s List Asia awards in Singapore. Maersk Line received the award for continuous network advancements, market leading digital solutions and trade finance, which allows customers to expand their business and reach new markets, the company said in its press release.
Collecting the award on behalf of Maersk Line, Mr. Rupesh Jain, Maersk Line’s South East Asia Managing Director said “I am very honoured to accept this award on behalf of the Maersk Line. It is the recognition of the continued support we have seen from our customers and peers during a challenging time for Maersk Line, it is also great to take this back to our employees who really deserve this award.”
“Maersk Line’s commitment to market leadership goes beyond the number of vessels in our fleet. Our highest priority is being the customer’s preferred container operator so we work hard to develop a network and provide services that resonates with our customers” said Mr. Jain, Maersk Line’s South East Asia Managing Director.
Throughout 2017, Maersk Line has introduced several improvements to its services and product offering. On the Asia-North Europe trade, Maersk Line established another service, improving the transit time for shippers. New services have also been established between Asia and the US East Coast and Asia and West Africa.
Trade Finance is another way Maersk Line is leading the industry and making shipping easier and more accessible for customers. Available in Singapore, India, Spain, the Netherlands, the USA and the UAE, Maersk Line is offering local customers easy access to capital at a lower cost for their global shipments, offering a single window to manage the flow of goods and the flow of capital to our customers.
Maersk Line’s industry leadership in the field of innovation was also noted, in particular for Remote Container Management and blockchain technologies. In Q3 2017 Maersk Line became the first shipping company to address reefer customers’ need for greater cargo visibility by giving real time data about the state of their cargo including location, temperature, humidity and other conditions. The data is valuable for our customers to understand and optimise their supply chains. When needed, Maersk and our customers can jointly plan contingencies to reduce wastage and costs.
Not only is RCM beneficial for our customers, but in the current tough market conditions, RCM is good business practice. In 2017 YTD we have detected more than 4500 instances of incorrect reefer setting. In more than 200 of these cases the cargo – collectively worth several millions to our customers – would have been lost without correcting the settings.
In addition to RCM, Maersk Line is collaborating with IBM to explore an end-to-end global digital trading network based on blockchain technology. The Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that 15% of the overall value of traded goods around the world is comprised of hidden costs, much of it a result of the manual processes underlying most transactions. This translates into losses of $100 billion per year. The network will enable the real-time exchange of supply chain events and documents. This will reduce the cost of goods for consumers, address important issues like fraud, and enable a greater supply of goods from small and medium sized companies around the world, especially those in emerging economies.
Maersk found in 2014 that containers of avocadoes and flowers from Kenya to Europe had to go through nearly 30 people and organisations, consisting of private companies and public authorities, including more than 200 different interactions and communications between them.
