Cultivating long-term partnerships

If there is one thing Head of After Sales Ulrich Schittek views as essential to his role, it is listening to and building long-term relationships with pool partners. Such relationships, he says, along with a steady cargo flow stemming from the company’s algorithmic-based trading strategies and access to a global customer network, will foster optimised earnings for partners.

Growth in the number of vessels operated for other owners is a strategic priority for Maersk Tankers. Through this, the company is building relationships, generating income, scale and data about vessels and markets, contributing to the company’s digital strategy.

“To build long-term relationships and drive value for partners, we need to listen to every pool partner’s needs for their vessels. Transparency and communication between us enable ongoing optimisation of service offerings and vessel performance,“ says Schittek. “This will improve the pools’ overall returns, which benefits every partner in the pool.”

As an example of optimised pool performance, Schittek alongside colleagues from Commercial and Technical, recently looked into the fuel optimisation monitoring that is carried out for all vessels in the pools, and found that some vessels could benefit from changes. The pool partner team helped the partners identify where they could improve performance through, for example adjusting the vessels’ speed. This assisted in higher earnings in the pool and assisted in improving pool partners´ vessels’ ratings.

Maersk Tankers has recently split its pool partner team into Sales and After Sales teams to ensure partners get clear and coordinated entry points. Using his experience and network built over his 30-years career in shipping, Schittek will assist partners in maximising the value gained from being part of a pool, while also focusing on bringing in more vessels from existing partners to build scale.