Maersk’s warehouse expansion continues into the new year.
Global logistics giant A.P. Moller—Maersk signed a land grant contract with the administrative committee of Lin-gang new area of the Shangai Free Trade Zone just before the end of 2022. This marks the official landing of Maersk’s first green and smart flagship logistics center in China with low greenhouse gas emissions. With a total investment of $174 million, the facility is expected to be open for business by the third quarter of 2024.
“Maersk is continuously enhancing its logistics capabilities to offer integrated end-to-end solutions to customers worldwide. Shanghai plays a critical role for Maersk global network,” Caroline Wu, managing director of Maersk Greater China, said. “With Lin-gang’s proximity to Yangshan port and its favorable free trade policies, our flagship logistics center will provide agile and sustainable solutions, connecting and simplifying our customers’ supply chains. We will continue to invest in China, contributing to Shanghai’s position as a global leading shipping and logistics center, and the resilience of global supply chains.”
Covering approximately 113,000 square meters (roughly 1.216 million square feet), the Lin-gang flagship logistics center offers 150,000 square meters (about 1,615,000 square feet) of warehousing storage space comprising four ramped, three-story high standard warehouses and one 24-meter (approximately 79 feet) high warehouse with an automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS). The center offers customers a wide range of integrated logistics services, including international export consolidation, regional and global order fulfillment and distribution, cross-border e-commerce and other value-added logistics services.
The flagship facility will apply for the highest platinum-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. Maersk plans to use advanced environmentally friendly materials in construction and to be equipped with a rainwater management system and solar panels to optimize efficiency on water and energy consumption. Upon completion, to further improve its environmental footprint, the new facility will feature LED lighting, natural ventilation, non-fossil energy heating systems, as well as electric vehicle and equipment charging piles.
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The Shanghai news comes after Maersk opened its new Integrated Logistics Park at Port Qasim in Pakistan in December.
During the height of supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic, Maersk Pakistan invested in an Integrated Logistics Park that would act as a warehouse, including a consolidation and fulfillment center and cold storage, at Port Qasim. The company acquired the 26-acre land and designed and constructed a six-shed facility spanning over 560,000 square feet with the idea that it would address customer requirements through a single location.
A month earlier, Maersk entered a green methanol partnership with U.S.-based project developer Carbon Sink LLC. The companies signed a letter of intent covering the development by Carbon Sink of green methanol production facilities in the United States. The first facility will be co-located with the Red River Energy existing bioethanol plant in Rosholt, S.D., and will have a production capacity of approximately 100,000 tons per year. This is Maersk’s eighth such agreement in its efforts to accelerate the global production of green methanol.
The company also expanded its warehousing footprint in Bangladesh with a new 100,000-square-foot facility built in Chattogram in November 2022. The upcoming facility is strategically located near the Chattogram Port, connecting to the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway through the Outer Ring Road and Karnaphuly Tunnel, which offers easy access to Bangladesh’s garment exporters based out of the nearby manufacturing hubs. The facility is expected to address the warehousing capacity crunch faced by exporters out of Chattogram. Maersk’s total warehousing footprint in Bangladesh will cross 300,000 square feet with this new facility.
Plus, Maersk is enhancing its omnichannel-fulfillment capabilities in the Philippines by adding a 100,000-square-meter warehouse in Calamba, Laguna. The new facility is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Based in Copenhagen, Maersk operates in 130 countries and employs more than 100,000 people. It aims to become climate-neutral by 2040 with new technology, vessels, assets and fuels.