Cargo Solutions

During the year, the PSA Group gained traction in delivering port-centric logistics and digital solutions to serve the needs of beneficial cargo owners (BCOs).

Our acquisition of global logistics solutions provider BDP International (BDP) in April 2022 further enhanced our solutioning capabilities and global network coverage. BDP and PSA Cargo Solutions were subsequently rebranded as PSA BDP in April 2023.

In 2022, PSA BDP successfully completed over 1.75 million shipments*. As a specialist in global supply chain management for complex materials, PSA BDP has established partnerships across various industry verticals, including Chemicals, Retail, Industrial, Life Sciences and Healthcare. Of note, the company provides supply chain management and logistics solutions to eight of the world’s top 10 chemical companies. Additionally, as a result of the BDP acquisition, PSA BDP shipped over 83.2 million kilograms via airfreight in 2022.

CO-CREATING CARGO SOLUTIONS FOR MORE AGILE, RESILIENT AND SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAINS

In January 2022, PSA Southeast Asia (PSA SEA) and Hyundai Motor Group announced a long-term partnership where PSA SEA would take on the responsibility of Lead Logistics Service Orchestrator for the HMGICS (Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Center in Singapore) Smart Factory. Additionally, HMGICS and PSA SEA would co-develop advanced logistics solutions to meet the unique requirements of HMGICS’ electric vehicle (EV) production, while PSA Singapore’s Roll-On-Roll-Off (RORO) facilities would support their export of EVs from Singapore. This partnership was subsequently extended to include Hyundai’s logistics operations in Indonesia.

During the year, PSA SEA also deepened its partnership with a Middle East-based chemical manufacturer by expanding PSA’s Forward Hubbing solution service to include contract logistics, stock keeping unit (SKU)-level inventory management and empties sourcing, as well as freight and inventory management in Singapore, China and Vietnam.

PSA BDP was selected by one of the world’s leading automobile tire manufacturers to manage and execute freight forwarding activities in the EMEA market. The success of this collaboration led to the business relationship blossoming in multiple geographies, culminating in the customer achieving a Top 25 customer status within PSA BDP in under one year.

In April 2023, PSA BDP was appointed by Automotive Cells Company (ACC), one of Europe’s leading EV battery manufacturers and a joint venture of Saft, Stellantis and Mercedes Benz, to be their logistics partner in the Northern France region. PSA BDP will provide contract logistics services for ACC’s raw materials and EV batteries, hinterland transportation between warehouses and the GigaFactory, and ocean freight services for the import of raw materials.

Over in China, PSA’s Fuzhou Container Terminal (FCT) and PSA Fujian Supply Chain Solutions (PFS) were appointed in July 2022 as LM Wind Power’s one-stop cargo and logistics solutions provider in Fujian. LM Wind Power is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of large-scale wind turbine blades. FCT and PFS capped another achievement in January 2023 with the announcement of a Port+ partnership with SAIC Motor, China’s largest car manufacturer, to develop and operate one of SAIC’s export port hubs in southeast China. The significant occasion featured the inaugural export of 1,110 cars under SAIC’s MG brand to Mexico through FCT.

In 2022, the PSA BDP team hosted a series of Supply Chain Summits in key markets around the globe. The kickoff event was the IoL + Supply Chain Summit in Singapore, followed by Antwerp, Istanbul, and Dubai. These in-person customer events gathered leaders from PSA BDP along with top industry experts and supply chain professionals, coming together for a day of education, conversation, and networking. Over 1,100 attendees were present across the four sessions, with nearly 440 companies represented across varying industry verticals. The events focused on pertinent topics such as sustainability, regulatory compliance, supply chain optimisation and building partnerships, to name a few. The events continue in 2023 in Houston, Mumbai, Antwerp, and Singapore.

ENHANCING OUR CAPABILITIES TO SERVE BCOs

During the pandemic, PSA SEA leveraged ports and shipping data insights to offer route advisory as well as cross border and intermodal solutions. We also continued to build networked corridors to connect supply chains from source to destination.

In June, the China-Singapore Chongqing Multimodal Distribution and Connectivity (DC) Centre was launched by Sino-Singapore Chongqing DC Multimodal Logistics, a PSA China unit. In addition to serving as a physical facility for multimodal operations, the DC Centre in Chongqing will contribute to the development of the CCI-New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (CCI-ILSTC) and facilitate greater connectivity and trade, by tapping on Singapore and Chongqing as the hubs in Southeast Asia and Western China, respectively.

In India, PSA Mumbai is a key multimodal transhipment hub with extensive vessel and rail connectivity across 56 Inland Container Depots (ICDs) in India. In 2022, a new rail connection was launched between PSA Mumbai and Cochin in Southwestern India. This enabled our customer, a major Indian paper importer, to significantly reduce its transit time between Asia and Eastern Europe, from 70 to 40 days.

Over in Europe, Mersin International Port (MIP) enhanced its position as a major logistics centre for reefer traffic in the Eastern Mediterranean region, by setting up an on-dock cold store to orchestrate storage and movements of cold chain commodities.

In Belgium, PSA BDP has combined its expertise in project cargo with PSA’s breakbulk terminals to offer a full-service solution to address customers’ heavy-lift cargo needs.

DIGITAL SOLUTIONS TO SOLVE PAIN POINTS

Digital technology is one of the key enablers to help our customers mitigate supply chain challenges and gain a competitive advantage.

PSA BDP offers various digital solutions to its global customer network, including Smart Suite®, a collection of intuitive applications that complements the capabilities of CALISTA™, PSA’s supply chain platform, to enable greater supply chain visibility and control.

Smart Classify, a digital workflow application co-developed by PSA BDP and CrimsonLogic, was launched to simplify the complex HTS classification process while enhancing data consistency, enabling comprehensive stakeholder views, and reducing product classification cycle time. A digital track and trace application for supply chains – Smart Navigator – was also rolled out to equip customers with real-time visibility, predictive estimated times of arrival (ETAs) and cohesive insights, to improve planning processes, reduce inventory and reduce working capital.

During the year, PSA BDP also launched a pilot program automating the Bill of Lading (BL) audit process and streamlining communications with ocean carriers. Additionally, a rebranding of BridgeNet contributed to its steady growth in 2022. BridgeNet secured several large-scale engagements, including procurement optimisation and supply chain consulting.

CrimsonLogic launched a carbon footprint calculator in August to calculate carbon emissions during end-to-end transportation of cargo, based on origin/destination pairs and transportation modes.

The company also launched a program that extracts and digitises trade data to support automatic data submissions to Customs and other stakeholders via a Single Window system, which helps reduce duplication of work. By leveraging Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and big data analytic tools and techniques, a 360-degree real-time risk assessment can also be performed to ensure the highest levels of security and compliance.

DECARBONISING SUPPLY CHAINS

PSA continued to work closely with cargo owners and supply chain stakeholders to help them meet their sustainability goals of decarbonising supply chains.

In Singapore, PSA’s Jurong Island barge solution achieved volumes exceeding 130,000 TEUs in 2022. This is equivalent to removing more than 130,000 truck movements and reducing up to 30% in carbon emissions by twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers.

PSA BDP and Bracco Imaging SpA achieved a pharma transportation ‘first’ with its introduction of two temperature-controlled reefer containers between Italy to China, on the Trans-Asia railway. In addition to installing IoT sensors within the containers to monitor temperature, humidity and light levels, PSA BDP also ensured impeccable product integrity through real-time product movement and quality traceability. The use of rail transport instead of ocean transport enabled Bracco to achieve a 40% reduction in carbon emissions.

PSA Italy’s Southern Express rail link between Basel and Genoa has enabled companies to move their goods reliably, sustainably and cost-effectively. The rail connection reduces transportation times by up to seven days when moving cargo from the Mediterranean, Middle East and the Far East to Switzerland as compared to ocean freight.

INDUSTRY RECOGNITION

In December 2022, PSA SEA was conferred the ‘Best Logistics Support Award’ by Sembcorp for the successful completion of the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) on Jurong Island. The initiative aims to provide an accelerated energy transition pathway for both Sembcorp and Singapore.

During the year, PSA BDP’s role as a trusted supply chain partner was acknowledged by multiple customers through various awards, including ‘Best Service Partner’, ‘Supplier of the Year’, ‘Customer Experience Top Contributor’, to name a few.

PSA BDP underwent stringent industry audits in 2022 to ensure service and operational excellence. Its offices in Brussels, Belgium, Milan, Italy and New York achieved the ‘Center of Excellence for Independent Validators’ in pharmaceutical logistics certifications from the International Air Transport Association. PSA BDP in the UAE received the ‘Good Distribution Practices’ certification for pharmaceutical products. In Asia, our Singapore team won the ‘Workplace Safety and Health Performance’ award and also successfully completed the Responsible Care audit by the Chemical Distribution Institute.

At the Singapore Business Review Technology Excellence Awards 2022, CrimsonLogic’s digital regulatory filing product emerged tops in the ‘Connectivity – Technology’ category for its process automation capabilities that enable cross-border trade compliance. The company also received the Bronze award in the ‘Excellence in Innovation in Technology Industries’ category of the 2022 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards – the only business awards recognising workplace innovation in all 29 nations across the Asia-Pacific region. Its process automation capabilities that enable cross-border trade compliance was also recognised in the Middle East International Business Awards 2022, under the ‘Technology’ category.

Looking ahead, PSA plans to fully leverage the combined capabilities of our global trade management offerings with BDP’s supply chain management solutions to create even more distinct and innovative solutions for cargo owners to thrive in today’s challenging marketplace. Our commitment to digitalise global trade and support resilient, agile and sustainable supply chains will deliver significant value for customers around the world.

* Shipment: Referring to any item that is loaded on a vessel, aircraft, truck or railroad, and transported from one location to another location (whether domestic or international).