A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S (also known as “Maersk”) expanded its offerings through the acquisition of a prominent logistics and brokerage firm, Vandegrift Inc., in a deal that closed on Feb. 8. Vandegrift has 170 employees in a dozen locations around North America, including a team of former U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials, allowing Maersk to offer clients a full spectrum of logistics services.
“Vandegrift’s expertise and reputation enables us to place a trusted advisor in front of our customers to design and build individualized Customs Brokerage and Compliance programs that identify risk and provide solutions. This customer advocate role, coupled with our supply chain assets and global scale creates winning end-to-end solutions for companies intent on competing better in 2019,” said Narin Phol, Regional Managing Director of Maersk North America.
Maersk, the world’s biggest ocean container operator by capacity, counts 65,000 global customers and handles 20 percent of the world’s ocean container trade. Adding Vandegrift’s expertise reflects a trend among other major ocean container operators to diversify their value proposition by offering clients the possibility of a one-stop service that streamlines their supply chains; i.e., shipping, customs brokerage and trade compliance all in one.