Maersk accelerates transformation in Brazil, says Robbert van Trooijen, CEO for Latin America

AP Moller – Maersk is accelerating its transformation in Brazil and increasing the offer of terrestrial and digital logistics services for small, medium, and large companies.

Robbert van Trooijen, Maersk’s CEO for Latin America, says he wants to grow even more in Brazil and become one of the largest logistics companies in the country by 2025. “To achieve this objective, we want to widen our offer of services and land logistics, as well as contribute to the digitalization of Brazilian logistics as a whole, accelerating our transformation into the largest economy in Latin America”, he adds.

Maersk is accelerating its transformation from the world’s largest container shipping company into an integrated end-to-end logistics company, increasing its focus on logistics and land services, as well as using artificial intelligence and the launch of new online tools to digitize shipping around the world. These real estate services include supply chain management and Customs House Brokerage (customs brokers), for example.

“We are providing end-to-end integrated logistics services, for example moving goods from the factory floor to the supermarket using land, air, or sea logistics. We want to connect and simplify our customers’ entire supply chain, whether they are small, medium, or large, giving them the tools to make the best logistical decisions for their needs. To do this, we launched a series of digital tools, including NeoNav, Twill, and Maersk Spot, to help companies of all sizes gain an advantage competitive,” says Trooijen. “We want to give our customers a complete portfolio of supply chain services and provide them with a complete view of how their goods are being transported, using unprecedented transparency, through real-time product tracking. Thanks to our digital tools, customers can better organize their supply chains and make informed and real-time decisions; this is a huge advantage”, he adds.

In terms of digital tools, NeoNav can help large companies move more than 50,000 containers a year, reduce inventory by up to 30%, increase revenue by 1%, decrease the costs of goods sold by up to 2%, reduce costs by up to R$ 200 per container and make decisions in real-time thanks to the tool’s artificial intelligence platform. With Maersk Spot, companies can book end-to-end transport of their containers at fixed prices online and know that their spaces are guaranteed. Twill is focused on helping small and medium-sized companies in Brazil move goods from door to door, even though they often do not have internal logistics, time, knowledge, or resources teams to deal with the complexity of moving their own products throughout the world.

“Maersk has developed tools to help Brazilian companies of all sizes digitize their logistics chains and gain a competitive advantage, which is very important in challenging times like this,” says Trooijen. “We think that with these tools, Brazil has a real opportunity to become a leader in digital logistics in the region and in the world. Brazil is an innovative country and because of the pandemic, digital tools are here to stay”, he adds.

The strategy developed by the company has shown positive results. For Maersk Spot, volumes tripled in Brazil in 2020 and for Twill, they increased six-fold. “Twill has doubled its customers in the country over the past year and we expect to see accelerated growth again in 2021”, celebrates Trooijen, referring to how volumes between January and April 2021 are the sum of all cargo handled by Twill in 2020 in the largest economy in Latin America.

“Brazil has the opportunity to become a major trading partner in the world, reducing barriers to make trade viable, reforming tax and labor laws, as well as reaching agreements on new trade pacts”, explains Trooijen. “We want to contribute to this growth and enable Brazilian trade around the world, as we remain focused on the long-term transformation of Maersk, prioritizing customer demand for integrated logistics”, he concludes.

For 2021, Trooijen forecasts double-digit growth for Maersk in Brazil. The company has invested more than US$ 7 billion in the largest economy in Latin America since 2010 and today it supports more than 50,000 direct and indirect jobs in the country.

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