When containers are no longer fit for shipping or needed in the fleet, they can be sold off for new purposes. Reuse is excellent for the environment, but also good business for Maersk. With an increasing number of containers retiring, Maersk had to find a way to handle growing freight volumes. New customer segments became crucial but were not easily accommodated via previous manual structures. So, a strategy to leverage digital solutions was devised instead.

Complete illustration system visualises all products.

Other players have since copied the Maersk model, but with both size and a first-mover advantage, Maersk has secured a strong position in the market.

Including the global team was key to the project’s success. Several workshops and ongoing communication brought local insights to the ideation process and helped set priorities on the basis of input and feedback from the sales staff, the key system users, and the team of assistants handling customer service inquiries. Forging close, early ties between users and the design/development team has generated fast mechanisms for problem-solving and provided access to extremely valuablve insights.