Maersk to lend $200 million to Indian container shipping companies

December 19, 2017: With a view to facilitate its shipping customers to avail pre- and post shipment credit, Maersk Trade Finance, which is a part of Denmark-based A.P. Moller- Maersk has earmarked a plan to pump in another $200 million to fund India-based businesses over the next 12 months.

Commenced in 2016, Maersk Trade Finance which offers export finance solutions to its customers is looking to bridge gaps related to capital access enabling its customers to take India-made products to global markets.

It's barely over a year now that Maersk Trade Finance has on-boarded 100 customers across diverse sectors in the country, and is further looking to finance another $200 million to India-based businesses spread over next one year.

Offered through a digital platform, Maersk's finance service is available to Maersk Line shipping customers. It offers a one-stop shop for its customers to manage the flow of goods and money.

Similarly, its customers can avail funds to pay for shipments, invest in new orders, and avail cargo shipping services from Maersk Line, which is world's largest container shipping company.

The service is yet another initiative by Maersk to help facilitate its customers' simplification efforts, enable global commerce and speed up and simplify access to capital while removing the paper trail from traditional financing options.

"Access to trade finance is one of the biggest bottlenecks in the global trade," said Vipul Sardana, global head trade finance of Maersk.

"In its current form, trade finance is complex, cumbersome and paper intensive. Having noticed this industry gap through Maersk's existing relationship, we decided to take the initiative and commence a service that will offers our customers easy access to funding in foreign currency, linked to LIBOR at competitive rates. We feel satisfied knowing that we are able to make a meaningful difference to our customers and help our customers take their businesses to newer shores. With this success firmly under our belt, we are confident about the future potential of trade finance in India, and we are ramping up across geographies to meet the growing need for similar financial support," he said.