How Maersk Cut Port Turnaround Time by 40 Percent

The Operations Podcast with Fexingo: Process, People, and Profit in Modern Business · Jul 28, 2026 · 7m · transcript

This episode dives into a specific operational overhaul at Maersk, the world's largest container shipping company, that reduced the time ships spend in port by 40 percent. We explore how they analyzed port call data across 400 terminals, identified a critical bottleneck in stowage planning—the process of deciding where to place containers on a vessel before arrival. By redesigning the planning software and shifting to a centralized team, they cut turnaround time from an average of 30 hours to 18 hours. That freed up capacity equivalent to adding dozens of ships to their fleet without…