A.P. Moller-Maersk (Maersk) has offered its ocean transportation services to institutions and organisation participating in the COVID-19 medical relief effort in India on at a nominal rate of $1 per container, with all air shipments by Maersk India being done on a zero-profit basis.
In a statement, the carrier said it has already transported 6,000 oxygen concentrators, 500 oxygen cylinders, 60 cryogenic oxygen tanks and several medical suppliers and ventilators to India.
The current wave of COVID-19 has put great pressure on India’s health service and caused a shortage of basic equipment. Maersk said its services, including warehousing and digital tools, have proven to be “vital in handling the complexity” of the relief effort.
Vikash Agarwal, Managing Director, Maersk South Asia, said, ““The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us several lessons – empathy being one of the most important ones of them all.
“The crisis has urged us all to go beyond our business and support the society when it needs it the most. 15 of our top executives from different functions voluntarily got together in the early days of the second wave and put together ‘Project Oxygen War Room’, or POWR as they called it, to help society fight the virus.
“The team went far beyond their day-to-day jobs to create a platform for buyers to meet sellers and implemented logistics for the medical aid coming into India.
“They worked relentlessly to put everything into action – from enabling charter planes to rapid clearances of emergency cargo to setting up visibility dashboards for transparency across different stakeholders involved in the transportation of the goods.”
