Together we can do so much – the importance of long-term partnerships

Partnership begins with building trust, which is what we are trying to instil in a very challenging situation. At Maersk, we have throughout 2021 made a focused effort to communicate as early as possible when faced with constraints.

Like all logistic providers, Maersk has been heavily affected by COVID-19 outbreaks slowing down local as well as global operations. Regardless if it is a port, vessel or warehouse, when one becomes impacted it quickly results in a downward spiral as delays accumulate. Coupled with extraordinary market conditions and volume demands, it equals a testing situation and an uncertain outlook.

Keeping our eyes on the prize 

The current circumstances have also led to short-term rates across the industry being high.

Maersk has for some time not been pushing the spot market, and despite a major and long-lasting rise in demand, we have striven to honour our long-term contracts which has shielded most of our customers from short-term price hikes. We have and will always do our utmost to safeguard our customers’ businesses as we continue to enhance our offering to better serve our customers, on multiple levels. While the here and now is important, so is building a business model for our customers that enables them to fully seize growth opportunities, also in the future.

Since the financial crisis, the commoditisation of shipping has led to short term pricing being the pivotal, competitive focus. We need to move to a place where strong partnerships hold the highest value. Through close partnership we can certify transparency, flexibility and predictability into supply chains, at a competitive cost, all while investing in the long-term.

New avenues to eliminate complexity - together

There is a growing realization by all that better resilience must be built into supply chains to ensure that similar future disruptions will not lead to the same current outcomes.

Running a global supply chain is a complex undertaking, no matter if you are a global enterprise or an SME. The longer the supply chain, the more things that can go wrong and the less control. The key is building scalable and agile resilience – to be switched on and off as needed, not only from a supplier perspective, but on a company level. Therefore, choosing the right business partner can be just the competitive advantage you need. Especially if that partner can provide you with detailed supply chain insights that allow for end-to-end visibility and connecting supply with demand.

A truly integrated logistics model offers end-to-end solutions that create better operational control and ultimately savings for customers. The technological advancements we’re making every day makes this possible and offers new avenues to eliminate complexity in ways we could not achieve before.

Partnership begins with building trust. It’s the first thing said in this text. This is where our interest lies, in building trusted relationships. Together – we can go far.