Maersk has announced a ‘winter plan’ to help clients deal with severely disrupted shipping in the Atlantic.
A record-breaking hurricane season combined with US east coast port delays has seen Maersk advise that its three North Europe to US loops will feature a number of port omissions – mainly on the east and Gulf coasts.
According to the Loadstar, the shipping giant blames a deterioration in reliability due to weather conditions.
US east coast boom
It aims to offer customers affected by the changes other options for the ports omitted and added: “We expect this programme will vastly improve your experience with Maersk as sudden changes to your cargo plan will be reduced compared with previous years.”
US east coast ports are facing heavier traffic as freight moves from the congested west coast, resulting in a 9% year-on-year growth for container imports last month, according to Blue Alpha Capital data. In comparison, the west coast saw a 7.5% decline.
Unilever business
Maersk has also landed the contract to handle Unilever’s global supply chain, reports the Loadstar.
It has signed a four-year contract to provide operational management of its global ocean and air freight transport, developing and managing Unilever’s International Control Tower Solution.
The FMCG giant operates in 190 countries and has 12,000 containers on 1,500 ships at any one time.
Michelle Grose, VP global logistics and fulfilment at Unilever, said:
“We’re delighted to be working with Maersk to unify our global ocean and air logistics operations.
"Not only does this end-to-end approach ensure better service for our customers and reduce business waste, the added visibility will also help us mitigate risk, increase agility and help us achieve our company-wide target of becoming carbon neutral by 2039.”
According to Leak Herald, the deal indicates the Maersk’s transformation into a fourth party logistics (4PL) player with a presence across the supply chain.