Maersk Special Project Logistics (SPL) has shipped 53.3 million N95 facial masks from Asia to North America between April and May. Not wit its container vessels, but by air, using multiple full Boeing 747-400F and Antonov-124 air charters. 

45 million masks were delivered to Canadian healthcare service providers in Alberta and another 8.3 million masks to a large, private healthcare provider in the US.

“This pandemic has created challenges in logistics as well as healthcare and we had to create new solutions to bring the necessary equipment to healthcare providers in North America in record time”, says Rob Townley, head of Maersk SPL. “From the Asian factory to the healthcare facilities, we were able to create a direct logistics solution for this highly time-sensitive material.”

Since April 2020, Maersk has delivered multiple full 747-400F and Antonov-124 air charters of PPE and other pandemic-related supplies. The company expects to carry out more air charters in the next few weeks.

The company has also partnered with A.P. Moller Holding to offer ‘an integrated sourcing, procurement and door-to-door delivery service for healthcare facilities enabling simplified supply chains with reduced risk.’ This partnership is based on the ‘Maersk Bridge’ model, which was initially designed for the Danish government and is now being expanded to support the US and Canadian healthcare systems as well as major ngo’s like WorldVision.

The Maersk SPL team is an integral part of the Maersk organization, designed to serve very specific and complex end-to-end logistics solutions. In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, Maersk SPL provided logistics to help restore electrical power in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. In 2018, it also arranged the transport of The Ocean Cleanup’s plastic waste collection system, for which it used vessels from Maersk Supply Service.