How Maersk partnered with San Miguel, Argentina’s largest citrus producer, in helping them successfully overcome supply chain complexities despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
The background
Our client, San Miguel, is the largest citrus producer and exporter in Argentina with operations spanning over 60 years. Today, they export their produce from different countries such as Argentina, Uruguay, South Africa, and Peru. Their worldwide export volumes are calculated at around 6000 containers annually. Leaders in fresh lemon, they also work with other produce like oranges, tangerines, grapefruits, grapes, and avocado. They wanted a partner who understands that their business is not just about selling citrus, but also about delivering their fruits to the right place, at the right time.
The Challenge
Due to the seasonality of citrus production, our customer needed to maintain an end-to-end supply chain structure throughout the year, which was strained during peak season yet inactive during low season.
In addition to this, since they operate in different markets, they need to manage multiple vendors and carriers which further adds to their supply chain complexity due to the lack of visibility and integration of processes and information. This, coupled with the rising logistic costs, was becoming a burning concern for our customer.
The solution
After analysing their situation, we suggested that they outsource all international logistics operations which will help them reduce their operations costs to use the solutions as and when needed. To help achieve this, we offered a 4PL solution that would optimise their operations, provide greater visibility and control, and an improved and lean structure. This structure would aid their supply chain during the peak season resulting in increased productivity and effective waste mitigation.
We really believe in the potential that this solution has, the results obtained so far allowed us to grow a lot by working together and we are looking forward to a better customer service and more efficiency in our operations. Just as an example of the results of this partnership is that in the middle of the pandemic, we were able to deliver lemons from Argentina to China once the Chinese market was reopened.
The result
Thanks to this close partnership, San Miguel managed to be one of the first exporters to China once the trade was opened again. Maersk worked with San Miguel and managed to include their produce in the first vessel shipped from Argentina.
The customer’s expectation through this partnership to grow their business without worrying about the logistics was met with Maersk helping in bringing efficiency into their operations.
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