In December 2021, PSA inked an agreement to acquire global logistics solutions provider BDP International (BDP) and the acquisition was completed four months later. As a leading provider of integrated supply chain, transportation and logistics solutions, BDP will bring its international expertise in end-to-end supply chain services to the table.

Headquartered in Philadelphia, USA, BDP’s strengths will complement and extend PSA’s capabilities to provide agile, resilient and innovative cargo solutions. Our customers will be able to benefit from the extensive capabilities of both BDP and PSA, while accelerating their shift towards sustainable supply chains.

At the same time, customers of BDP will benefit from additional insights and connectivity to PSA’s global network of more than 60 deep sea, rail and inland terminals worldwide, as well as affiliated businesses in distriparks, warehouses and marine services.

PSA also continues to grow CrimsonLogic/ Global eTrade Services(GeTS) acquired in 2018, to further our digital platform initiative, CALISTA®, to facilitate global trade among Governments, Customs, Ports and Business. In addition, CrimsonLogic/ GeTS will continue to assist Small-Medium sized Businesses (SMEs) to navigate the complexity of cross border trade compliance, trade financing and payment.

Creating a Data-driven Supply Chain
Information and trusted data sharing is key to optimising supply chains.

In 2021, PSA worked with the Singapore Together Alliance for Action (AfA) on Supply Chain Digitalisation to co-create the Singapore Trade Data Exchange (SGTraDex). Designed to be a neutral and open digital utility, SGTraDex streamlines the flow of information across global supply chains through a common data highway. This first-of-its-kind digital infrastructure facilitates trusted and secure sharing of data and connects supply chain ecosystems across the world, for better end-to-end visibility.

In line with our aim to digitalise supply chains, we continued to support Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN), a not-for-profit technology consortium, of which PSA is a founding member. GSBN launched a new product, Cargo Release, to better connect ports with liners and inland service providers. The Cargo Release tool has reduced the time for cargo to be document-ready for release from days to hours, and is being progressively implemented in PSA Singapore and around the region for various liner partners.

PSA Cargo Solutions plugged the urgent need by offering cargo owners better end-to-end visibility for their shipments. In 2021, we launched the PSA Cargo Solutions Control Tower solution on our digital platform CALISTA®, which streamlines end-to-end supply chain orchestration for multiple stakeholders worldwide. The Control Tower solution provides our customers and trading partners with an integrated operating platform to track shipments, collaborate and obtain critical information across the supply chain. It also facilitates exceptions and alerts management for better service visibility and continuity.

PSA also partnered with supply chain visibility provider Roambee to co-create a verifiable item-level, multimodal Full Container Load (FCL)/Less than Container Load (LCL) visibility solution and ocean milestone standard backed by first-hand sensor and port operations intelligence. This verifiable ocean visibility will fuse the physical and digital aspects of ocean cargo from end-to-end, including first mile, at port, on vessel, and last mile. The partnership combines Roambee’s world-class real-time visibility technology with PSA’s CALISTA® digital platform, to enable verifiable and data-driven cargo supply orchestration across the board.

Bespoke Solutions to Keep Logistics Moving and to Boost Connectivity
By actively collaborating with its customers and partners, PSA Cargo Solutions offers distinctive and bespoke port-centric cargo solutions to benefit cargo owners and service providers to tackle supply chain challenges and keep operations running smoothly amidst the backdrop of supply chain disruptions.

To that end, PSA Cargo Solutions Southeast Asia launched a suite of Terminal Value-Added Services for cargo owners around the world. These services include Priority Discharge, Top Stowage, Express Delivery, Flexi-Alerts and Fast Connection Management for containers moving via Singapore.

Over in China, PSA Cargo Solutions’ agile interventions ensured one of our customers’ cargo arrived in time for the Mid-Autumn celebrations, a traditional festival celebrated by Chinese communities around the world. The customer had found out that their shipment was facing delays from China to Singapore but PSA Cargo Solutions Southeast Asia, along with support from the PSA team in Beibu Gulf-PSA International Container Terminal, found a solution: Containers were re-nominated onto an earlier carrier and top stowage of the containers was arranged at the port of loading to facilitate priority discharge of the containers upon their arrival in Singapore. This ensured that our customer’s time-critical containers were delivered just in time for the festive celebration.

To deliver a more seamless experience for cargo owners, we expanded our international freight management capabilities.
In addition to strengthening key gateway-linked services to better move cargo to and from inland locations, we also increased our growing network of in-house and third-party carriers to facilitate a seamless flow of cargo from origin through to destination. Our fully-integrated services are further augmented by our industry-leading CALISTA® platform, enabling us to be the shippers’ single point of contact to support their regional supply chains.
Our intermodal solutions have also kept goods moving across our operations worldwide. PSA Cargo Solutions EuroMed and PSA Genova Pra’ celebrated the running of the 500th train from Genoa to Frenkendorf, a municipality in Basel, only two years after the service commenced operations in October 2018. This Genoa-Basel route enables a direct connection – without any stops for consolidation or deconsolidation – from the Mediterranean port of Genoa to Switzerland via triweekly round-trip trains. With PSA Genova Pra’ operating both rail and terminal segments, customers enjoy smooth and agile coordination as well as benefit from fast, proactive, and flexible customer support.

The service boasts a reliable track record with 83 per cent of trains arriving within an hour and 94 per cent within two hours of the given estimated time of arrival. With this level of reliability, cargo owners using this alternate route to reach central European markets will be able to build more resilience into their supply chain network.

Additionally, cargo owners moving goods from the Far East and Middle East to Central Europe by rail movement via Genoa can achieve lower carbon emissions, as this is a shorter route overall that significantly reduces ocean navigation.

Besides Genoa, PSA also operates a number of rail services in China and India. For example, we operate weekly train services from PSA Qinzhou in Southern China to serve Western China cities such as Chongqing and Chengdu. In India, we help customers to switch from trucking to rail cargo movement between PSA Mumbai and the central and northern hinterlands to improve efficiency and visibility, thereby reducing carbon emissions.

Co-creating a Resilient and Sustainable Network
Besides bolstering the resilience of supply chain networks, we also believe in co-creating greener and more sustainable networks. In November, PSA partnered with Ocean Network Express (ONE) to launch an environmentally friendly barge sailing service from PSA Singapore to PSA Jurong Island Terminal. This initiative could potentially reduce up to 30 per cent of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions for every twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container moved.

We have also helped to ensure food resilience and diversity in Singapore. In 2021, we worked with an agricultural specialist to establish a farm-to-store supply chain in Singapore, where PSA managed the end-to-end cold chain of fresh produce. With our integrated cold chain, port and digital capabilities, we were able to provide shorter time-to-market, greater quality assurance and more diversity in Singapore’s food supply.

As we steer towards the future, PSA will continue to raise the bar on supply chain excellence. The journey ahead may not always be smooth-sailing, but we strive to power through with new and innovative ways of moving the world’s goods.