Danish shipping giant A.P. Moeller-Maersk has completed its first acquisition this year by acquiring New Jersey-based customs broker Vandegrift to expand its service offerings in the logistics business.
Maersk said it believes customs house brokerage is a key component in its strategy to become an integrated container logistics company, providing end-to-end solutions to customers and the acquisition will enhance the company’s commercial solutions pipeline and strengthen its logistics presence in the North America market.
“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.
“Adding Vandegrift’s depth to our value proposition creates a game changer for our North America customers. Now we can offer significantly more customs broker expertise, capacity and wider scope of solutions to help our customers succeed. We’re excited to show customers the difference our stronger company can make in their supply chains in 2019 based on the people and system expertise we now offer,” added Jeff Hammond, global head of customs brokerage for Maersk.
Maersk Line, the world’s largest ocean container operator by capacity, handles around 20% of the world’s ocean container trade.
