Air takeover

In the face of continued port and supply chain congestion, and fitting with plans to grow its role in air transport logistics, Maersk has decided to acquire Senator International Freight Forwarding Group, a Hamburg-based global freight forwarder.

Vincent Clerc, executive vice president and CEO of Ocean & Logistics, A.P. Moller – Maersk, said: “As a global provider of integrated logistics, Maersk is improving the ability to provide a one-stop-shop and end-to-end logistics capabilities to our customers.”

He said the company is “now ramping up our air freight capacity significantly and creating a broader network to cater even better for the needs of customers”.

Senator has built an airfreight operation centred around own controlled capacity using nineteen weekly flights across its network. Senator operates a significant part of their business through a dedicated air bridge with own controlled capacity and uses its own Cargo Wise One core operating platform.

Maersk is also adding aircraft to its operations. Three leased B767-300 cargo planes will be operational from 2022 and two new Boeing B777 freighters will be deployed by 2024.

“Air freight is a crucial enabler of flexibility and agility in global supply chains as it allows companies to tackle time-critical supply chain challenges and provides transport mode options for high value cargo,” said Maersk.

The company added: “Coupled with increasing consumer demand, we have received more and more requests from customers for alternative means of cargo transportation.”

The purchase is expected to be complete in the first half of 2022.