Even Amazon needs warehouse assistance from other global logistics players from time to time.
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Maersk is reportedly providing the e-commerce giant with fulfillment services at a 1 million-square-foot warehouse in Denain, France, according to French newspaper La Voix du Nord. Most known for its ocean freight capabilities, Maersk is renting the building from industrial real estate developer GLP.
Sourcing Journal reached out to Amazon and Maersk.
A spokesperson for Maersk told supply chain publication The Loadstar that Maersk would occupy 75 percent of the facility, but did not confirm Amazon was the customer. Maersk plans to employ 430 workers at the site during the peak holiday season and 240 during off-peak periods, that report said.
French news outlet France Bleu noted that Amazon doesn’t own the facility, but reported that a company rep said, “Like other companies in the logistics sector, Amazon regularly works with third-party companies to complement its own sites.”
In Douai, France, Amazon also rents a 750,000-square-foot warehouse that employs 500 staff members. That building is owned by ID Logistics. Maersk itself doesn’t have an owned warehouse in France, but has more than 30 warehouses throughout Europe.
Amazon has made a significant investment into its operations in France in 2024, unveiling in May it would pour 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) into the country to create more than 3,000 permanent jobs.
As of that announcement, Amazon already operated more than 35 of its own logistics facilities in the country. The new investment would support further expansion of the company’s logistics infrastructure to cut the time and distance necessary to serve customers, all while increasing delivery speeds.
At home in the U.S., Amazon recently gave warehouse workers a long-sought pay bump to an average of $22 per hour, up from the prior hourly $20.50. All warehouse staff will get free access to Prime as part of the benefit.
For Maersk, the company has expanded beyond its ocean carrier roots in recent years to build out a more substantial logistics offering. The firm doubled its North American warehousing and distribution capacity in February 2020 when it acquired Performance Team for $545 million, and extended the warehousing and fulfillment ambitions further into the Far East when it acquired Hong Kong-based contract logistics company LF Logistics for $3.6 billion.
Maersk’s logistics and services division saw revenue growth of 7.3 percent to $3.6 billion in the second quarter due to increased volumes across all services, more than offsetting continued low rates. The “Fulfilled by Maersk” offering, which is the warehouse and distribution service that Amazon likely is using at the Denain location, saw revenue increase 12.6 percent to $1.4 billion. Ground freight and last-mile delivery accounted for the majority of the increase, Maersk said.
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The Amazon-Maersk partnership in Denain wouldn’t mark the first time the global logistics players have collaborated, but the previous endeavors have been related more to sustainability efforts out on the ocean.
Maersk’s goal to reach net-zero by 2040 aligns with the company’s commitment to The Climate Pledge , an Amazon-founded decarbonization effort for corporations to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to be compliant with the Paris Agreement’s 2050 net-zero goal 10 years ahead of schedule.
Amazon has participated in Maersk’s Eco Delivery low-carbon shipping program since 2020, with the companies agreeing last year to transport 20,000 40-foot containers using green biofuel. With the year-long agreement, the companies could reduce 44,600 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) used, roughly equal to 50 million pounds of coal burned.
The Eco Delivery biofuel option is designed to offer emission reductions that enable immediate and externally verified greenhouse gas (GHG) savings for customers, without compensatory measures like offsetting.
As worries of a strike on the East and Gulf Coast ports on Oct. 1 set in, Maersk is the latest major ocean carrier to announce a surcharge related to the potential backlog.
The move following similar announcements by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM, all of which added fees on moving product to the East and Gulf Coasts.
Maersk’s potential port disruption surcharge for all cargo moving to and from the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast terminals would be effective Oct. 21, 2024.
The surcharge is rated at $1,500 per 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU), $3,000 per 40-foot containers and $3,780 for a 45-footer.
“This surcharge is necessary to cover the higher operational costs that will be incurred due to the service disruptions, ensuring the sustainability of our services and ongoing support for your supply chain requirements,” Maersk said.
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