A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk) today announced the expansion of its warehousing footprint in Chattogram. Commissioned in cooperation with ISATL, Maersk has embarked on the second phase of its partnership with ISATL, which will give exclusive access to 210,000 square feet of a state-of-the-art export custom bonded warehouse for its customers. This warehouse has been tailor-made to suit the needs of the exporters of retail and lifestyle commodities and should be available by April 2024.
Vikash Agarwal, Managing Director, Maersk South Asia, commented, “We continue to invest and strengthen our commitment to Bangladesh with the expansion of our footprint in the country. We strongly believe in the potential of this country and its exporters, and we are fully committed to participating and playing a role in their respective growth stories.”
In recent times, Bangladesh has seen a slight slowdown in exports owing to the ongoing geopolitical situation that has led to reduced demand for retail and lifestyle goods in the Western markets. However, the trend is expected to turn around as inventory restocking begins, giving a boost to exports out of the country. With the demand picking up again and limited warehousing capacity in the market, Maersk aims to close the gap between higher demand and shortage of supply through this facility at Chattogram.
Maersk and ISATL had first collaborated and entered into an agreement towards the end of 2021 and within a period of 14 months, ISATL provided 200,000 square feet of export custom bonded warehouse to Maersk. Given ISATL’s expertise and proven track record to deliver warehouses of this scale made them an obvious choice for Maersk to partner for this expansion. Maersk also offers another 100,000 square feet of warehousing space in partnership with Vertex Depot, which was inaugurated earlier this year in the month of February. With the latest expansion, Maersk has on offer over half a million sq. ft. of dedicated export warehouse in Chattogram to its customers. Further, Maersk also offers another 300,000 sq. ft. of flexible warehousing capacity through local partnerships to customers in case of short term requirements. In a market with capacity constraints, this expansion will assist Maersk’s customers to have assured access to consolidation space on a long-term basis, creating stability of operations and thereby eliminating the uncertainty, especially during the peak seasons.
