Who wins the trade war? Maersk’s Malaysia mega-bet backs Southeast Asia

byVerified News Online

AdvertisementUS-Asean relationsThis Week in AsiaEconomicsWho wins the US-China trade war? Maersk’s Malaysia mega-bet backs Southeast Asia

The shipping giant sees Southeast Asia as a net beneficiary of Trump’s tariff turmoil

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A Maersk container is moved at Malaysia’s Port of Tanjung Pelepas. The shipping firm holds a 30 per cent stake in the port in Johor state. Photo: Shutterstock

Joseph SipalanandIman Muttaqin Yusofin Kuala LumpurNext to a bustling expressway funnelling Malaysia’s exports to the world, Danish shipping giant Maersk has placed a US$118 million bet that Southeast Asia will not only withstand the new tariff era, but find a way to prosper.AdvertisementMaersk’s largest Asia-Pacific distribution centre opened in Shah Alam, Selangor state, on Wednesday. Seven years in the planning, it was conceived well before Donald Trump’s tariff-wielding return to the White House disrupted supply chains and slashed corporate margins.

But when the dust from his trade hostilities finally settles, Maersk believes it will be Southeast Asia that emerges as a net beneficiary of the reshuffle.

“Regardless of industry, everyone is looking for a cheaper, better way to source products. And I think we will follow wherever the customer goes,” Elaine Low, Maersk’s area managing director for Southeast Asia, told This Week in Asia.

A computer generated render of Maersk’s new distribution centre in Shah Alam. Image: Cergas Setia Construction
A computer generated render of Maersk’s new distribution centre in Shah Alam. Image: Cergas Setia Construction

At the company’s sprawling 180,000 square-metre facility, everything from chocolates and shoes to surgical equipment is delivered by container lorries and sorted by robots into automated trays stacked tens of metres high, awaiting the next shipment out.

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