Hardware and Software

If the basic, yet powerful concept of connecting people and products via the physical movement of goods is the hardware of our business, information is the software that makes it run. And it’s the ability to combine assets and ideas - hardware and software - to meet each customer’s transportation goals that enables a company to move beyond its history to prosper in the future.

Many of the same commodities that appeared on the California’s cargo manifest in 1848 are still shipped today - dress coats, shoes, silk handkerchiefs, English playing cards, cheese, coffee, pineapples, and medicines. But it’s how these items are transported and the information customers receive about their shipments that has changed.

Until containerization was widely accepted, customers sourcing products internationally had to allow more time to bring goods to market. Now, thanks to a more streamlined and dependable intermodal transportation network, goods reach market in days - not months.

Instead of relying on handwritten bills of lading that arrived weeks after goods were loaded aboard sailing vessels, customers now access up-to-the-minute information on Web sites like this one. Make no mistake, customers are using this information as never before. They print bills of lading, trace shipments, and can even drill down to the SKU level of each and every product in any shipment.

A Global Equation

Transportation links businesses, suppliers, distributors, and customers throughout the world. The movement of raw materials, parts, and finished products from factory to assembly plant to distribution warehouse to store shelf across global supply chains requires meticulous coordination.

Whether it’s garments, foodstuffs, or manufactured goods, customers are building their businesses around a combination of accurate, timely shipment information and precise, reliable transportation. In so doing, they can adjust quickly to changing market conditions around the world.

APL has taken a leadership role in responding to the just-in-time needs of today’s businesses. As we made the leap from containerization to intermodalism, we also championed the use of information technology to provide customers with maximum visibility to every shipment. Armed with the right information, customers can more efficiently manage inventories, fill orders, and replenish stocks.

Enduring Relationships

To create an ultramodern transportation network that ensures a continuous flow of products, APL and its predecessors have forged long-lasting relationships with many different kinds of industries - from today’s giant, multinational retailers to key vendors like North America’s railroads.

Our business relationships have also included some surprising partners. For example, the company has come to the aid of the U.S. government during wartime and has helped governments around the world improve their countries’ transportation infrastructures.

Focused on the Future

The coming together of APL and Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) in 1997 played a key role in helping the business extend its reach and shape it as an industry leader. The APL-NOL merger has created one of the world’s largest and best-integrated companies involved in global transportation and related services.

The merger enabled APL to offer customers more comprehensive coverage of the world’s markets and access to the Group’s full suite of services - container shipping, terminals and logistics.

Add the expertise and diversity of more than 11,000 employees and you get a truly global company with a noble past.

Today APL, as part of the Singapore-based NOL Group, connects continents through a network of over 200 offices, with services to more than 25,000 locations throughout the world. And through our sister business APL Logistics, we offer customers an unrivalled ability to support their entire supply chain.

Industry-leading Innovators

We’re consistently recognized for our market-leading list of innovations, outstanding customer service and unflinching commitment to grow profitably.

In 1998, we were pioneers in Vietnam’s infrastructural development with the opening of the Vietnam International Container Terminal.

We extended our footprint in Europe in countries such as Russia, Poland and Estonia in the early 2000s. As leaders in our field, we have focused on offering solutions for industry and global trade issues such as infrastructure, congestion and security and in recent years supported this with the publication of influential White Papers in recent years on the emerging markets of China, India and Vietnam.

In 2007, we invested in eight new 10,000 TEU ships – the fastest, most powerful and environmentally friendly engines the industry has ever known. We introduced the industry’s fastest all-water service – the Suez Express – connecting Asia with the US East Coast via the Suez Canal. In India, we launched IndiaLinx™, a landmark intermodal service that offers customers reliable rail-container ship connections and record-breaking inland transit times.

APL has continued to unveil new innovations and industry firsts – 53-foot ocean containers, operated as the Ocean53 service and the APL Guaranteed product offering guaranteed day-definite services for full-containerload cargo from Asia to the US.