A Leading Trade Nation: The Role of Container Shipping and Logistics in Enhancing Trade and Economic Growth in China. Technical Report

International companies are agents in the globalised economic system and as such they cause social and environmental externalities through their activities. It is a fundamental responsibility of companies to set systems in place to minimise negative impact and ensure compliance with regulation. In Maersk, we focus most of our sustainability effort on ensuring compliant and safe operations.
However, at the same time, companies are providers of growth, jobs and new solutions that may enhance sustainable economic development at local, national and global levels. We believe that our own understanding of the opportunities we have to enhance sustainable development through our core business is limited, and therefore shared opportunities for progress between us and the societies we are part of are not being harvested to their full potential.
In response, over the past years we have experimented with so-called ‘impact studies’ to better understand this. Previously, we have studied opportunities around our terminal in Apapa, Nigeria, our WAFMAX vessels serving West Africa as well as our role in Brazil. This report examines our role in China from an opportunistic point of view, focusing on where we have a material impact on China’s key priorities.