Maersk successfully delivered its first end-to-end shipment of freshly produced ‘Green Chillies’ from Varanasi to Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates (UAE) within a duration of 9 days. The company worked closely with Agricultural and Processed Food Exports Development Authority (APEDA), the apex organization under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, responsible for the export promotion of agricultural products, to enable trade opportunities in the state via land & sea routes. The delivery is a testament to Maersk’s efforts to unlock the agro-trade potential in Uttar Pradesh and expand across the country by leveraging end-to-end cold-chain logistics solutions.
Considering the promising trade prospects offered by the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh (Varanasi region), APEDA is in the process of setting up Agri-export hubs in these districts along with soon-to-be set up project office to fast-track the co-ordination & facilitation of all activities.
Steve Felder, Managing Director, Maersk South Asia, said: “The economy of Uttar Pradesh is predominantly agrarian and performance of agriculture and allied activities such as horticulture, animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries are critical in determining the growth rate of the state. Additionally, due to its favourable climatic and geographical conditions, the agricultural produce from the state especially Varanasi region enjoys a preferred demand in the global market which is the reason the government has plans to make it an export trade hub.”
Throughout the journey from Varanasi to Jebel Ali, leveraging the Remote Container Management (RCM) technology, the temperature of the cargo was accurately maintained at the temperature recommended by the Reefer expert with proper tracking of the container movement and co-ordination with various stakeholders involved in the project.
As the future enquiries are in pipeline with an additional route (rail) option, the target commodity is wide-ranging (green chilies, okra, bitter gourd, green peas, brinjal, mango, guava etc.) with focused efforts from the company and government to ensure this to be a year-round movement.
Source: Maersk
