Narin Phol, regional managing director for Maersk North America, said the American supply chain needs to build resiliency while developing technology to address data visibility and decarbonization.
Phol spoke at the 48th Annual South Carolina International Trade Conference in Charleston, S.C., on Friday, as part of the conference’s “Customer Strategy Post Pandemic” panel.
“Supply chain disruption is a constant,” Phol said, noting that the past few years have shown how important the supply chain is to the entire business community.
Phol said that traditionally, supply chains have been complex, siloed networks that can keep up with capacity demand while optimizing for cost, efficiency, and scale. But, when major unexpected events test those supply chains, potential obstacles are introduced. He said that logistics professionals need to work through more complex networks of suppliers, systems, and solutions from origin to final destinations.
For Maersk, the disruptions meant the company had to add depth to its supply chain scope by offering warehousing and distribution/omnichannel fulfillment and last mile logistics services and delivery for B2B and B2C supply chains, as well as creating Maersk Accelerate – a system that fast tracks cargo within 48 hours of discharge at APM terminals Pier 400 Los Angeles into L.A.-Long Beach warehouses.
“To solve these customer challenges, we focused on helping customers find end-to-end solutions such as off-dock depots for storage, warehousing, and transload facilities (into domestic trailers),” Phol said. “Equally important, we invested in landside logistics capabilities to provide the end-to-end solutions to North American customers.”
Phol said the pandemic accelerated and magnified data visibility challenges. The logistics industry will need to become more tech-driven to enable better planning and change the supply chain from reactive to proactive. Lastly, he addressed the urgent need to reduce the environmental impact of supply chains through decarbonization efforts across the entire supply chain.