Amid lockdown, Maersk urges Indian clients to switch from road to rail

April 21, 2020: Amid Covid-19 and lockdown in the country, Maersk India urged its customers to switch from road to inland rail service for faster and uninterrupted container movement.

The lockdown had already caused tremendous damage to Indian logistics and the most affected is road transport which had seen state authorities stopping them trucks at borders, drivers leaving to home states fearing Covid-19 and even leaving their trucks nowhere in the country. Major airport and seaports witness cargo congestion and have significantly reduced their cargo movements. Grounding of passenger flights took away capacity from air cargo too. Meanwhile, rail is the only mode of transport that seems to flow freely throughout the country.

Managing Director of A.P. Moller-Maersk South Asia noted in his LinkedIn post "Beat the limitations on road transport during the Covid-19 lockdown in India, by using our inland rail services to deliver your cargo from the port to the nearest ICD and avoid uncertainties of long haul road transport during the lockdown. Switch from road to rail for faster and uninterrupted container delivery."